tell her to
hand it to Seal as she drives past his house. Tell her to read it to the
old man. He doesn't know _a_ from _x_. I doubt if Mrs. Hawkins does. But
you can tell her to read it--it will flatter her. I'll return when I'm
ready. Meantime, I don't want to be disturbed by any one. Understand?"

"Yes," answered Dic, and the worthy merchant disappeared, locking the
door behind him.

Billy sat down in the arm-chair, leaned his head backward, and looked at
the ceiling for a few minutes; then, resting his elbows on his knees, he
buried his face in his hands. There he sat without moving for an hour.
At the end of that time he arose, drew the trunk from under the bed,
unlocked it, and raised the lid. A woman's scarf, several bundles of
letters, two teakwood boxes, ten or twelve inches square and three or
four inches deep, beautifully mounted in gold, and a dozen books neatly
wrapped in tissue paper, made up the contents. These articles seemed to
tell of a woman back somewhere in Billy's life; and if they spoke the
truth, there must have been grief along with her for Billy. For although
he was created capable of great joy, by the same token he could also
suffer the deepest grief.

Out of the trunk came one of the gold-mounted boxes, and out of the box
came a package of letters neatly tied with a faded ribbon. Billy lifted
the package to his face and inhaled the faint odor of lavender given
forth; then he--yes, even he, Billy Little, quaint old cynic, pressed
the dainty bundle to his lips and breathed a sigh of mingled sorrow and
relief.

"Ah, I knew they would help me," he said. "They always do. Whatever my
troubles, they always help me."

He opened the package, and, after carefully reading the letters, bound
them again with the ribbon, and took from the box a small ivory jewel
case, an inch cube in size. From the ivory box he took a heavy plain
gold ring and went over to the chair, where he sat in bachelor
meditation, though far from fancy free.

Suddenly he sprang from the chair, exclaiming: "I'll do it. I'll do it.
She would wish me to--I will, I will."

He then went back to the storeroom, loitered behind the letter-boxes a
few minutes, called Dic back to him, and said:--

"You are going to have one of the sweetest, best girls in all the world
for your wife," said he. "You are lucky, Dic, but she is luckier. When
you first told me of--of what happened last night, I was disappointed
because I saw your career s