nts. Mrs. Winslow and Nora had taken her to
their arms and wept and laughed over her in turn, and in their silent
undemonstrative way she had felt herself hedged in by unusual solicitude
on the part of her riders. It was good--none but she knew how good--to
be back among her own, to bask in a friendliness she could not doubt.
It was best of all to sit opposite Ned Bannister again with no weight on
her heart from the consciousness of his unworthiness.

She could affect to disregard the gray eyes that followed her with
such magnetized content about the living room, but beneath her cool
self-containment she knew the joyous heart in her was strangely buoyant.
He loved her, and she had a right to let herself love him. This was
enough for the present.

"They're so plumb glad to see y'u they can't let y'u alone," laughed
Bannister at the sound of a knock on the door that was about the fifth
in as many minutes.

This time it proved to be Nora, come to find out what her mistress would
like for supper. Helen turned to the invalid.

"What would you like, Mr. Bannister?"

"I should like a porterhouse with mushrooms," he announced promptly.

"You can't have it. You know what the doctor said." Very peremptorily
she smiled this at him.

"He's an old granny, Miss Messiter."

"You may have an egg on toast."

"Make it two," he pleaded. "Excitement's just like caviar to the
appetite, and seeing y'u safe--"

"Very well--two," she conceded.

They ate supper together in a renewal of the pleasant intimacy so
delightful to both. He lay on the lounge, propped up with sofa cushions,
the while he watched her deft fingers butter the toast and prepare his
egg. It was surely worth while to be a convalescent, given so sweet a
comrade for a nurse; and after he had moved over to the table he enjoyed
immensely the gay firmness with which she denied him what was not good
for him.

"I'll bet y'u didn't have supper like this at Robbers' Roost." he told
her, enthusiastically.

"It wasn't so bad, considering everything." She was looking directly at
him as she spoke. "Your cousin is rather a remarkable man in some ways.
He manages to live on the best that can be got in tin-can land."

"Did he tell y'u he was my cousin?" he asked, slowly.

"Yes, and that his name was Ned Bannister, too?"

"Did that explain anything to y'u?"

"It explained a great deal, but it left some things not clear yet."

"For instance?"

"For one thing, the reason