e,
"quality."

"Are you," inquired Lance, "are you any relation to Aunt Basha?"

Jackson, for all his efficiency a friendly soul, forgot the dignity of
his livery and broke into chuckles. "Naw, sir; naw, sir. I dunno de
lady, sir; I reckon I ain't, sir," answered Jackson.

"All right, then, but it's the mistake of your life not to be. She's the
best on earth. Wait till I brush my hair," said Lance, and did it.

Inside three minutes he was in the big Pierce-Arrow, almost as
unfamiliar, almost as delightful to him as to Aunt Basha, and speeding
gloriously through the streets. The note had said that some kinspeople
had just discovered him, and would he come straight to them for lunch.

Mrs. Cabell and Eleanor crowded frankly to the window when the car
stopped.

"I can't wait to see David's boy," cried Mrs. Cabell, and Eleanor, wise
of her generation, followed with:

"Now, don't expect much; he may be deadly."

And out of the limousine stepped, unconscious, the beautiful David, and
handed Jackson a dollar.

"Oh!" gasped Mrs. Cabell.

"It was silly, but I love it," added Eleanor; and David limped swiftly
up the steps, and one heard Ebenezer, the butler, opening the door with
suspicious promptness. Everyone in the house knew, mysteriously, that
uncommon things were doing.

"Pendleton," spoke Mrs. Cabell, lying in wait for her son, the great
doctor, as he came from his office at lunch time, "Pen, dear, let me
tell you something extraordinary." She told, him, condensing as might
be, and ended with; "And oh, Pen, he's the most adorable boy I ever saw.
And so lonely and so poor and so plucky. Heartbroken because he's lame
and can't serve. You'll cure him. Pen, dear, won't you, for his
country?"

The tall, tired man bent down and kissed his mother. "Mummy, I'm not God
Almighty. But I'll do my damdest for anything you want. Show me the
paragon."

The paragon shot up, with the small unevenness which was his limp, and
faced the big doctor on a level. The two pairs of eyes from their
uncommon height, looked inquiringly into each other.

"I hear you have my name," spoke Dr. Cabell tersely.

"Yes, sir," said David, "And I'm glad." And the doctor knew that he also
liked the paragon.

Lunch was an epic meal above and below stairs. Jeems had been fetched by
that black Mercury Jackson, messenger today of the gods of joy. And the
two old souls had been told by Mrs. Cabell that never again should they
work hard or be anx