hurt him.
He'll love you just the same, and you'll love him. As for Brockton, let
him get another girl. There are plenty around. Why, if this chance came
to me, I'd tie a can to Jerry so quick that you could hear it rattle
all the way down Broadway!"

She rose, and, leaning over the back of Laura's chair, put her arms
lovingly around her neck. Tenderly, she said: "Promise me, dearie, that
you won't be a d----d fool. Will you promise?"

Laura looked up at her, and smiled faintly: "I promise."

Elfie took her gloves and parasol.

"Well, good-by, dear; I must be going. Ta-ta, dearie. Give my regards
to your charmer."

Laura accompanied her to the door.

"Good-by, dear."

Left alone, Laura returned to the parlor. Drawing aside the portieres
that shut off the maid's quarters, she called out:

"Annie!"

"Yassum!"

"I'm expecting a gentleman, Annie. When he comes, ask him in."

CHAPTER XVIII.

The New York Central Railroad terminus in Manhattan is not exactly a
spot which one would be apt to select for a rest cure, although a
famous nerve specialist has expressed the learned opinion that such
little disturbances in the atmospheric envelope as the shrieking of
steam whistles, the exploding of giant firecrackers, the bursting of
pneumatic tires, the blasting with dynamite, the uproar of street
traffic, the shouts of men and boys, the screams of women and the
wailing of babes are soothing, rather than harmful, to the human
nervous system. All these sounds and others even more discordant,
greeted the tired passengers of the Buffalo express, as, arriving from
the West, they emerged from the train-shed into the deafening turmoil
of Forty-second Street.

John Madison, tanned and weather-beaten, suitcase in hand, stood
hesitating on the curb, as if dazed. After long months spent amid the
loneliness and comparative quiet of the Nevada desert, the rush and
bustle of the colossal metropolis was bewildering and confusing. A
hackman hailed him.

"Cab, sir?"

"Yes," he answered, throwing his traveling grip on the seat. "Drive to
the Waldorf."

As the jehu flourished his whip, and the hack rattled along on its way
to the hotel, Madison gazed idly out of the windows, watching with
interest the luxurious shops and the crowds of busy people hurrying
along the sidewalks. How different it all looked to-day than when he
was last in New York! Now, he viewed the scene with different eyes.
Then he was a penniless repo