n away Filmer, or going?" he asked as he sat down and flung off his
coat and fur hat.

"Both," Filmer returned, and although his voice was hard and strained,
Drew detected a welcome to him in the tone.

"I wanted you up at the bungalow," he said quietly; "the girls cannot
get along without you. It's Christmas Eve," he added quietly,
"to-morrow's the big day, you know."

"I shan't be here." The words came harshly. "See here, Drew," Jock flung
himself about and leaned toward his guest, his long, thin hands clasped
closely and outstretched. "I wanted you to-night more than any one, but
God, could know. I couldn't come to you--but you've come to me at the
right moment."

"I'm glad of that, Filmer."

"I'm not much of a hand for holding back what I want to give out," Jock
rushed on, "and I ain't much of an orator. What I'm going to tell you,
Drew, has been corked up for over ten years--it's ripe for opening--will
you share it?"

"Can you ask that, Filmer?" The two men looked steadily at each other.

"Did you ever hear of Jasper Filmer on the Pacific Coast?" Jock asked
suddenly.

"Yes; he died a week ago. The papers were full of it. We noticed the
name--" Drew bent forward--"and wondered."

"I'm his son. There ain't much to tell. It's a common enough yarn. The
world's full of the like. It's only when you tackle the separate ones
that they seem to differ. The old man--made himself. That kind is either
hard as nails or soft as mush. My governor had the iron in his. He
banked everything on--me--and I wasn't up to the expectation. I was
made out of the odds and ends that were left out of his
constitution--and we didn't get on. My mother--" Jock pulled himself
together; "she was the sort those self-made men generally hanker after,
all lady, and pretty and dainty. You know the kind?"

Drew nodded. His face was ashen.

"I wish you could have seen her, Drew, I've seen a good many, but none,
no, not _one_, who ever came up to her for softness, and fetching ways.
Lord! how I loved her. The old man might have known that if I could have
gone straight I'd have done it for--mother. She never lost faith in me.
Every time I went wrong--she just stopped singing for a time." Filmer
gulped. "Then when I pulled myself together, after a while she'd begin
again, singing as she went about, and smiling and laughing a laugh that
keeps ringing, even now.

"At last the governor got tired of the lapses. I don't blame him; just
remember th