!"

Johnnie pulled the chair over the sill, this with something of a
flourish. Then, facing it about, "Here's Mister Perkins come t' see y',"
he announced, and sent the chair rolling gayly to the middle of the
room, while Grandpa shouted as gleefully as a child, and swayed himself
against the strand of rope that held him in place.

"Niaggery! Niaggery!" he begged.

"Sh! sh! Mister Barber's asleep!"

"Sh! sh!" echoed the old man. "Tommie's asleep! Tommie's asleep!
Tommie's asleep! That's what I always say to mother. Tommie's asleep!"

Johnnie came to the wheel chair. Then, for the first time in all the
years he had spent in the flat, the tender love he felt for Grandpa
fairly pulled his young arms about those stooped old shoulders; and he
dropped his yellow head till it touched the white one. Tears were in his
eyes, but somehow he was not ashamed of them.

Grandpa, mildly startled by the unprecedented hug, and the feel of that
tousled head against his, stared for a moment like a surprised infant.
Then out went his arms, hunting Johnnie; and the simple old man, and the
boy who loved him past a great temptation, clung together for a long
moment.

If there are occasions, as Father Pat and Mr. Perkins had once agreed
there were, when it was proper for a good scout to cry, Johnnie now
understood that there are occasions when good scoutmasters may also give
way to their feelings. For without a doubt, Mr. Perkins, grown man and
fighter though he was (and a husband to boot!), was weeping--and
grinning with all his might as he wept! It was a proud grin. It set all
his teeth to flashing, and lifted his red-brown cheeks so high that his
_pince-nez_ was dislodged, and went swinging down to tinkle merrily
against a button of his coat; and his brimming eyes were proud as he
fixed them upon Johnnie.

"Great old scout!" he said.

When Grandpa had had a glass of milk, and been trundled gently to and
fro a few times, Johnnie stowed him away near the window. "He ain't much
trouble, is he?" he asked, carefully tucking the feeble old hands under
the cover. He nodded at the sleeping veteran, sunk far down into his
blanket, his white head, with its few straggling hairs, tipped sidewise
against the tangled, brown head of Letitia.

"No," answered Mr. Perkins. "And you're going to be glad, Johnnie, when
the day comes that Grandpa closes his eyes for the last time, that you
decided to do your duty. And you'll never have anything selfis