ohn lighted a cigar.

"Have ye been doin' well since ye left?" Nancy inquired.

"Aye, Mistress McVeigh. Corney helped me, you know. I went to work in
his office the very day of my arrival in Chicago, and, thanks to your
advice, I never allowed my old habits to interfere with my progress."

"Ye didn't think I doubted yer ability to do that?" she asked,
reproachfully. Then, with a twinkle of humor in her eyes, she added,
"It was yer love fer a certain young lady that kep' ye at it."

"Maybe," he assented, meditatively.

"An' I suppose Corney has a grand place, wi' a desk and books as thick
as a family Bible?"

Young John laughed. "His office is as big as your house. He has
twenty desks and a clerk for each one, and a private room, all glass,
and leather-bound furnishings. I tell you, Mrs. McVeigh, your son has
developed a wonderful business, and you will live to see him a rich
man, too," he remarked, enthusiastically.

"Well, d'ye hear that now, the brains o' him! I always knew it!" Nancy
ejaculated, with tears of pride glistening for a moment in her eyes.
"It's been in me mind these ten years to go there an' see him. D'ye
think he'll likely be Mayor o' Chicago?" she asked, wistfully.

Young John quibbled with an easy conscience. "His chances are as good
as the best of them," he said. "But tell me about yourself, Nancy.
How have you been keeping? And have you had any more young men to
reform since I left?" he asked, suddenly changing the subject.

"Oh, barrin' the cold I got whin Moore left the switch open at the
Junction, an' the pain at me heart over losin' Jennie, I'm as fit as
iver," she answered, complacently. "Ye heard about Jennie's leavin'?"

"Corney read your letter to me," young John replied, sympathetically.

"It was a trial, to be sure, but I'm not complainin'. It's better fer
the lass, and Katie Duncan helps me a'most as much. Ye see, Johnny,
I'm goin' to be satisfied in this life, no matter what troubles I meet.
I've plinty o' belongin's, an' a deal o' honest work to do, which
leaves no time fer frettin'. I've had me ups and downs, an' it seems
I've known all the sorrows o' me neighbors as well as me own, but I
just keep smilin' an' fergittin'. There's so many bright spots whin
one looks hard fer them. It's one thing to be wishin' fer somethin' in
the future that never comes, and another to be content wi' the
blessin's that we get every day. I try fer the last. Some people, if