comin' t' put y' t' bed now. Y' want y'r milk first, don't y'? Well,
Tommie'll git it for y'." He returned to the cupboard for the milk
bottle, gave a smiling look at the two heads leaned on the table, and
disappeared to bed.

Presently some one tapped timidly on the hall door; but as there was no
reply, the caller went softly away. A bit later, a gruff voice was heard
on the landing, speaking inquiringly, and there were whispered answers.
But the gruff voice died away on the stairs, along with heavy
footsteps. Then only the distant rumble of the Elevated Railroad could
be heard occasionally, or the far, seaward whistle of some steamer, or
the scrape and screak of a street-car.

And so night settled upon the flat.

CHAPTER XXXI

THE VISION

AS life came back into his body, Johnnie's first thought was a grateful
one: how cool to his cheek was the old, crackled oilcloth on the table
if he rested that cheek a moment, now here, now there! His second
thought, too, was one of thankfulness: How good it was to be lying there
so quietly after those rending blows which had driven the breath out of
his lungs!

He would have liked to tug at his hair; but as his hands were tied fast
together, and held a little way beyond where lay his head, being secured
almost immovably by a length of clothesline which came up to them from
around a farther leg of the table, he could not comfort himself with his
old, odd habit.

Presently, "Cis!" he whispered. "Cis!"

A moan, feeble and pitiful, like the complaint of a hurt baby.

It was pitch dark in the kitchen, and though he turned his look her way,
he could not see her. Yet all at once he knew that this was not the
wild, fighting, bold Cis, with the strange, changed face, who had
stormed at the longshoreman; this was again the Cis he knew, gentle,
wistful, leaning on him, wanting his affection and sympathy. "Aw, Cis!"
he murmured fondly.

"Oh, Johnnie, I want a drink! I'm thirsty!"

He pulled at his hands. But Big Tom had done his tying well, and Johnnie
could not even loosen one of them. "I wish I could bring you some
water," He answered. "But my legs 're roped down on this side, and he's
got my hands 'way over my head on the other, so the most I could do
would be t' fall sideways off the table, and that wouldn't help y' one
bit."

"Oh!" she mourned. "Oh!"

"Can't you git loose?" he asked.

"No! I'm tied just as _tight_!"

Then for a little they were quiet, while Jo