Johnnie heard Cis's story of what had happened in the
flat following her return from the factory, her lunch still in its neat
camera-box.

"I--I just couldn't believe it was so!" she whispered, ready to weep at
the mere recollection of her shock and grief. "And, oh, promise me you
won't ever go away again!" she begged, brown head on one side and tears
in her eyes; "and I'll promise never to leave _you_--never, never,
never, _never_!"

Johnnie would not promise. "I'm goin' to be a cowboy," he declared
calmly; "but after I go, why, I'll come back soon's as I can and take
you. And maybe, after the Prince is married, you'll forget him, and like
a cowboy."

Cis shook her head. Hers was an affection not lightly bestowed nor
easily withdrawn from its dear object. "I saw HIM go into the
Waldorf-Astoria by the floor on the Thirty-third Street side," she
recalled tenderly. Recollection brought a sweet, far-away look into
those violet-blue eyes.

Johnnie took this moment to fish from his shirt his five books, laying
them one by one on the bed-shelf at Cis's feet, from where she caught up
the new ones, marveling over them.

"I _thought_ there was something funny about your looks," she declared.
"I kept still, though.--Oh, Johnnie Smith, have you been robbing
somebody?"

When he had enjoyed her excitement and anxiety to the full, she was told
all about the book shop and the millionaire, and the lady, and the book
with the dollar bill, after which he again showed those books which he
had purchased with the money.

"Oh, you silly!" she cried. "You didn't do anything of the kind! They
bought 'em for you--all those nice people!"

It was hard to convince him, but at last she did, this by pointing out
to him the price marked in each book, a sum that took his breath away.
Three dollars and a half apiece they were! More than ten altogether!
("Und in kesh-money!" Mrs. Kukor marveled afterward, when she knew.)
_His_ eyes got a far-away expression as he thought about the generosity
of those strangers. Oh, how good strangers were to a person! It almost
seemed that the less you knew somebody-- But, no, that was not true,
because Mrs. Kukor----

"Tell me more about Mr. One-Eye," whispered Cis. "But what a name for a
_man_! He _can't_ be called just that! How could you write him a letter?
Don't you know the rest of it, Johnnie? It's One-eye What?"

"Just One-Eye," returned Johnnie. "That's what they all called him.
Maybe cowboys don'