and tired men lounged, squatted on desks and
tilted back in chairs in the local room discussing the events of the
day, John and Brennan were summoned to the publisher's private office.
There they were confronted by P. Q. and the "chief," the managing editor
and the news editor, the quartet often referred to by the reporters as
the "brain trust." There John and Brennan received checks for $500 each
and were informed that their salaries had been doubled, the $500 being a
bonus for their work in exposing the Gibson-Cummings plot.

On his way home John decided to make one final effort to change his
mother's attitude toward Consuello. He planned it all very carefully.
First he would tell her of how his salary had been doubled and then he
would turn over to her the bonus check to be banked. Then he would take
her in his arms and beg her to listen while he told her of the love
between him and Consuello, whom he was to meet later in the evening.

He was absorbed in thinking of everything he would say to his mother
when he got off the street car at the corner and walked toward his home.
It was not until he was within a quarter of a block from his home when
he saw something that brought him to a sharp halt. Scarcely able to
believe what was before his eyes, he stood stock-still for a moment and
his worry left him like a weight had been lifted from his soul.

On the sidewalk was Mrs. Sprockett with the lost Alma clasped in her
arms. Mother and daughter were alternately laughing and crying and
kissing each other. Near them stood Mrs. Sprockett's husband, bouncing
the Sprockett baby in his arms and smiling and nodding his head to Alma
whenever her face showed to him from her mother's embrace.

And a few feet from the re-united mother and her daughter were Consuello
and his mother! Mrs. Gallant was smiling and patting Consuello's hand,
which she held in both her own!

Wondering what had happened to bring about such a happy scene, John
strode toward it, smiling his happiest. He was about to speak when Mrs.
Sprockett, allowing Alma to go to her father, grasped Consuello's hand
and holding it tight against her breast, cried softly:

"My dear, my dear, oh, what you have done for us! My dear, my dear."

He turned to his mother for an explanation.

"Consuello brought Alma back," Mrs. Gallant said. Then, lifting her face
to kiss him, she whispered, "Forgive me, my boy, for my unkindness to
her and to you."

She turned to Consuello