ll this? We will have it all to ourselves, and it will
make you want to help me. Sometimes boys can find out things big folks
can't. It came to me when I was walking along with the District Nurse
that you were just the one to help me. You're so--well, so sharp yet
safe. If they suspected, they would not let us know, maybe."

The two were now walking along in a companionable way back in the
direction Gloria had come.

"Dinney, if you find out who owns that house I will buy it. I've got
money; Uncle Em says I have. I will buy it and we'll fix it up good."
Dinney's face was aglow, his eyes shone, his breath was drawn sharp and
quick.

"Would you put in new stairs and new ceilings and new window panes if
you bought that house?"

"Yes, I would," said Gloria. "At first I thought I'd tear it down. But I
don't believe now I would, it's been home for so many. I'd just like to
see it fixed up the way it should have been years and years and years
ago."

"And you'd fix the hole in the ceiling?" asked the boy. Evidently that
break in the ceiling over the bed that had been his mother's had left a
deep impression on him.

"Wouldn't I, Dinney!" And now the girl's eyes shone. "It is a secret
worth keeping," she said.

"I should say!" answered Dinney. "And I'll find out if--if--it takes my
life, I will."

Dinney was young in years, but old in experience. His small figure now
straightened with determination, and over his face swept a look of
honest manliness far beyond his years. Gloria, looking down upon him,
felt glad she had taken him for a helper. "I wish mother had waited,"
Dinney said quietly, and then the two parted.

After her late luncheon, eaten alone, her uncle having returned to the
office, Gloria was ready for the District Nurse, who had promised to go
with her to the hospital. Aunt Em was taking a nap, so Gloria did not
disturb her. As the two walked along, Gloria's impatience broke forth
afresh.

"A coat of tar and feathers would serve the one right that allows such
things to exist!" she said.

"Don't, Gloria!" cried the nurse, in the same tone of terror she had
used in the hallway when trying to quiet Sal's mother.

"But I mean it!" said Gloria. "I don't see how the owner of that
building with all those trippy places can sleep nights. Think of anyone
taking rent for a house like that! I never knew such places were allowed
in the market."

"I don't believe I would be so hard, Gloria, if I were you. Let it