ped he'd have a lovely time, and come home very
rich; and before he could answer, she had called a gay "Good-bye and
good-luck," and had rung off.

Roderick was conscious of a slight feeling of surprise, and a decided
feeling of relief.

"She's a great girl," he said to himself admiringly. "She's just a
splendid good friend and a brick, and I'll write and tell her so!"

And he had no idea of how very much she merited his praise.

As the time for leaving approached, Roderick grew busier every day. It
was hard to get Lawyer Ed in the office long enough to settle things.
He was striving to take up the burden of his old work again cheerfully,
but the new civic and social and church duties he had assumed in the
year were hard to drop. Then the Local Option campaign was at its
height and demanded his attention.

To Roderick, and to most of the town people, he seemed to be
shouldering all his old burdens with his usual energy and
light-heartedness, but J. P. missed a familiar note of joyousness in
his tone, and Archie Blair noticed that Ed did not go up the steps of
his office in one leap now as he had always done, but walked up like
other people. But to the casual observer, Lawyer Ed was the same. He
was here, there and everywhere, making sure that this one and that was
going to vote the right way. And Roderick, watching him, remembered
how anxious he had been over the effect the campaign would have upon
his business. And now that he was not required to enter it, he often
longed to plunge in and help his friend to victory.

On the whole, the campaign helped Lawyer Ed materially, in the hard
days preceding the parting with his boy. After all, there was nothing
so dear to his Irish heart as a fight, and the rounding up of his
troops before the battle kept him busy and happy. And everything was
pointing to victory. Father Tracy had promised to see to it that his
flock voted the right way, and Jock McPherson had declared himself on
the side of the temperance cause. Whatever Lawyer Ed may have had to
do with influencing his fellow Irishmen, he could take no credit for
Jock's conversion. He had set out to interview the McPherson one night
after a session meeting, but fortunately J. P. Thornton prevented his
impetuous friend making the mistake of approaching the elder on that
difficult subject. Jock was still feeling a little dour over the
temperance question and the wise Englishman knew that whichever side of
th