"Wall, wall, stranger. We air shor'ly powerful pleased fer ter welcome
ye ergin," came in Big Jerry's deep and hearty voice, as he emerged from
the darkness, and caught Donald's hand in the old, crushing vise.

For a few moments they all chatted happily, and then Jerry said, "Erfore
I fergits hit, us wants ye ter stay up hyar this trip. Ther loft-room
air yourn, an' leetle Rose hes fixed hit up special fer ye--curtains et
ther window, er rag rug on ther floor, an' ther Lawd knows what else."

"Do you really want me to?" cried the newcomer in pleased surprise.

"Of course we really want you," answered the happy girl.

"Then, by Jove, I'll be only too glad to, although I had not thought of
such a thing."

"I allows thet yo' kin regard this hyar cabin as yo'r home whenever
yo're hyarerbouts, an' we wants fer ye ter feel thet hit _air_ home,"
said the giant with simple courtesy.

"I can't tell you how much that means to me--real hospitality like
that," began Donald, hesitatingly. "You know I ... I haven't any real
home and haven't had ... since mother left us, and my sister was
married. Of course," he added hastily, "my rooms are pleasant and
comfortable, and all that; but they're only a place to work, sleep and
eat in, and there isn't any of that indefinably vital something--a soul,
perhaps--which makes a _real_ home a sacred spot, no matter how big or
how small it may be. I get frightfully lonely there, sometimes."

"I didn't allow thet a man could git lonely in the city," replied Jerry.

"'In the city?' My dear man, one can be _twice_ as lonely there as any
place I know of. The very life makes for shut-inness, in mind as well as
body, and there are thousands and thousands of men, and women, too,
there, who know scarcely a soul outside of the very few with whom their
daily work brings them in contact; and _they_ are mere acquaintances,
not friends. They see only the four walls of the rooms in which they
work and sleep, and the walled-in streets between the two.

"These very streets seem to me to typify the city's life--so hard, so
filled with hurrying, jostling crowds of people, all equally intent upon
their own narrow, selfish affairs, people who would think a fellow crazy
if he spoke to them pleasantly, as you did to me the first time I saw
you. There are thousands who never even lift their eyes to the narrow
strips of sky between the tall buildings. _They_--and they only--know
what real loneliness is.

"Of co