take the silver
money out every time you see any in--not that we scorn it in the great
aggregate, far from it--it's just psychology again, Flopper. I went to
church once and sat beside a duck with a white waistcoat and chop
whiskers, who wore the dollar sign sticking out so thick all over him
that you couldn't see anything else; and when it came time for
collection he peeled a bill off a roll the size of a house, and waited
for the collection plate to come along. But he got his eye on the plate
a couple of pews ahead and it was full of coppers and chicken feed, and
he did the palming act with the bill slicker than a faro dealer--and
whispered to me to change a quarter for him."

"And did you?" asked the Flopper anxiously.

"Oh, wake up, Flopper!" grinned Madison; then, suddenly: "Hullo! Who's
that?"

Across the lawn, coming through the row of maples from the direction of
the wagon track, appeared two figures.

"Dat's who," said the Flopper, after gazing an instant. "It's Helena an'
Thornton."

"So it is," agreed Madison. "Get behind the trellis here then--it
wouldn't do for him to see me out here at this time of night."

They rose noiselessly from the bench, and slipped quickly behind the
trellis. Toward them, walking slowly came the two figures, Helena
leaning on Thornton's arm. Thornton was talking, but in too low a tone
to be overheard. Then a silence appeared to fall between the two, and it
was not until they reached the porch, close to Madison and the Flopper,
that either spoke again.

Then Thornton held out his hand.

"Good-night, Miss Vail--and good-by temporarily," he said. "I suppose I
shall be gone four or five days; I'm going up on the morning train, you
know. I wish you'd go as often as you can to see Naida in the car while
I'm away--will you? Her condition worries me, though she insists that
she is completely cured, and she will not listen to any advice. I have
an idea that she has overtaxed herself--apart from her hip disease, her
heart was in a very critical state. You'll go to her, won't you?"

"Yes," said Helena, "of course, I will."

Their voices dropped lower, and for a moment only a murmur reached
Madison; and then, with another "Good-night, Miss Vail," Thornton
started back across the lawn.

Madison could hear Helena fumbling with the door latch, and by the time
she had succeeded in opening the door the retreating figure of Thornton
was a safe distance away. Madison called in a whispe