fully sick," he corrected himself rapidly, "I mean just sick enough so
that your mother would not let her go. I know quite well how happy
Leonore will be with her. She was so kind and friendly with us right
away. Since our old aunt died nobody has been so good and sweet with us
as your mother and that will do more good to Leonore than anything else
on earth."

Salo's words made a deep impression on Bruno. He had never before
realized that everyone did not have a lovely home like his, and a mother
besides who was always ready to greet him affectionately, who could be
told everything, could help him bear everything, who shared all his
experiences and had a sympathy like no one else. All this he had
accepted as if it could not be otherwise. Now came the realization that
things might be different. Poor Salo and his sister, for instance, had
to suffer bitterly from missing what he had always enjoyed to the full
without thinking about it. He was seized with a sudden sympathy for his
new friend, who looked so refined and charming, and who already had to
bear such sorrow for himself and his sister. Bruno now flung behind him
all the thoughts and schemes he had had in connection with his coming
fate and with all the fire of his nature he fastened on the thought of
doing everything in his power to help Salo. He wanted to further his
friend's plan to found a home for himself and his sister as soon as
possible. That was something much more important than his disinclination
to DC with the Knippel boys.

"Now I shall not think about anything but what you can do to make your
plan come true," he said at the conclusion of his meditation. "If there
are two of us who are so set on finding a way we are sure to succeed
somehow."

"It seems so wonderful to me," said Salo, quite overcome by Bruno's warm
sympathy. "I have various friends in boarding school, but there isn't
one to whom I could have told what I am always thinking about, as I have
told you. You are so different from them. Will you be my friend?"

Bruno firmly grasped Salo's proffered hand and cried out with beaming
eyes, "Yes, Salo, I will be your friend my whole life long. I wish I
could do you a favor, too, as you have done me."

"But I have not done anything for you," Salo said with surprise.

"Oh, yes, you have. Now that I know I have a friend I have lost my dread
of living with the Knippel boys. I know that I can let them do as they
please, for I'll know that I have a