y now, and, doting on their little son as they
did, felt a bit weak to the man in that quarter.

Their only child was six years old, and the amazing beauty of young Joey
Ford made him many friends beside Mr. Pegram. He was one of they children
that look too good and too beautiful for this world, and you feel that, by
rights, they did ought to grow a pair of wings and fly away to heaven. And
for that matter, old Jane Marks, who was famous for seeing and pointing
out the dark side of all human hopes, warned Minnie more'n once against
putting her whole trust in the beautiful boy.

"To my eye there's early death looking out of his eyes," Jane Marks would
say. "Such blue eyes belong to the sky, Minnie, and there's more to it
than his angel face, because the child's so parlous good that it ain't
straining truth to say the Old Adam be left out of him. And granted that,
this vale of tears is no place for such a boy. Heaven's his home," Mrs.
Marks would say, "and so you must fortify yourself for an early loss."

Minnie didn't worry, however, because her son was a strong lad and sturdy
as well as lovely. He'd gotten his father's fine shape and his mother's
gentle heart, and though good as gold, he weren't a Mary-boy, as we
say--one of them gentle, frightened childer who can't let go their
mother's apron. That sort, if they grow up, turn into indoor man-servants
and ain't very powerful as a rule in their bodies or intellects; but Joey
was a brave young lad enough and had already fixed on his father's
profession for his own.

And Teddy Pegram took most powerful to him and made him many a game and
many a clever toy. He'd walk with the child to the woods sometimes and
teach him the ways of birds and beasts, and show him how to catch 'em; for
Ted was a rare sportsman and deeply skilled in all the branches of it. And
'twas his bent in that direction led to the extraordinary affair of this
tale; though it was a good year before the crash came and for a long time
no cloud arose to darken his steadfast friendship with the Fords. You
might say they was more than friends, for Teddy explained to the young
couple that he stood alone in the world, without chick or child of his
own, and felt very wishful to have some special interest in his fellow
creatures.

"I followed the sea," he told them once, "and that's why I'm so handy all
round. But my passion be sporting, and now, having earned a little
competence, I've retired from the ocean and