as long as
this car will be waiting to pounce on you the minute you set foot in
New York."

"I expect so, son. However, I shall not begrudge that sort of a
welcome now, for I feel like a fighting cock."

"You really are rested, aren't you, Father?"

"I am like another man," was the vehement reply. "I was about all in
when we went into camp. Thanks to you and Mr. Croyden I have had a
fine chance to pull myself together and prepare for whatever comes
next. You have been very thoughtful and unselfish, Theo, in leaving me
free to get all I could out of my vacation. It has meant everything."

"I wanted to help you, Dad."

"You've certainly proved that, my boy. I've appreciated every bit of
it."

A quick glance passed between the two.

They understood each other very well, Theo and his father.

"Here is Mr. Croyden," observed Theo. "He has been getting off some
mail and telegrams."

"That is precisely what I must do," declared the Doctor rising. "I'll
leave you to have one of your china-making talks while I am gone."

As the Doctor passed through into the next car Mr. Croyden sauntered
down the aisle and dropped into the seat he had just vacated.

"There," announced the merchant with a satisfied sigh, "I have done my
duty. I have sent off three telegrams and a lot of letters. How funny
it seems to get busy after being so idle! Next week will see us all
back at the grind, I suppose, and rushing about as if we had never
been away."

"Are you sorry?"

"No," was the hearty response. "I like to play when I play; but I like
also to work. I enjoy my business very much. It is an interesting and
useful one, and I like to think that in my small way I am helping to
furnish the world with things that are necessary, and tend toward
comfort and convenience as well as toward beauty. People cannot get on
without dishes--you and I have proved that."

"Not unless we all go back to being savages," said Theo humorously.

"We shall not do that, I hope," returned Mr. Croyden gravely. "Each
century should see the race farther ahead--a more honest, kindlier,
Christian nation. That is the motto we must bring with us out of this
war. Not more territory, more money, more power; but truer manhood and
purer souls. If the conflict does this for our people all the
sacrifice and loss of life it has meant will not have been in
vain. Out of the wreck a better America should arise, and we each must
help it to arise--you as well as I, for w