"A fine baby, Frank," said Berlin, as he stood looking at the child.
"You ought to be proud of him."

"No peacock was ever prouder," laughed Merry. "We hope to make a star of
him, eh, Inza?"

"Oh, the star--the birthmark!" exclaimed Inza. "Can't you show it to Mr.
Carson without waking the baby, Maggie?"

"Oi kin try, ma'am."

The maid gently slipped the clothes from the baby's left shoulder and
revealed the tiny, perfectly formed pink star.

"Wonderful! wonderful!" declared Berlin. "Why, one would think it
stamped there. I never saw anything so perfect in all my life. Frank,
Inza, that child is marked for something great."

"Let us hope you're right," said Merry.

That night, after retiring to his room, Carson sat a long time at the
open window, gazing out through the whispering trees toward the fall
moon that was rising in the east. The old feeling of sadness and
disappointment stole over him and gave him a sensation of uncontrollable
loneliness in the world.

"I suppose I was mistaken about Lizette," he finally muttered. "I shall
be able to tell when I see her again. I hoped to see her when they took
me to look at the baby. Rather strange she wasn't there. Still, I
presume it's true that she had a headache."

Finally he undressed, donned his pajamas, and got into bed.

Sleep did not come readily at his command. His brain was busy with many
thoughts. He recalled the old days at college, when he first met Frank
Merriwell. In those happy days ere meeting Bessie he was heart-free and
care-free. It seemed so long ago--so long ago. It was something like a
dream. Dimly he recalled the classroom, the campus, and the field. He
saw his youthful comrades gathering about him at the old fence in the
dusk of a soft spring evening. He heard their light talk and careless
laughter. He heard them singing beneath the windows of the dormitories.
He heard them cheering on the field as Old Eli battled for baseball
honors or struggled to win new gridiron glory.

Ah, those were happy days, Carson, my boy! They were the happiest you
have ever known. You did not appreciate those glorious days as they were
passing, but you appreciate them now, and the memory is a precious one.
Can such happy days as those ever again be yours?

Then he recalled old times on the ranch. He thrilled as he remembered
his first meeting with dark-eyed Bessie. How she had bewitched him! How
she had puzzled and fascinated him! At the very first he had f