n good spirits. Dora
was at the table with Betty and Minnie when he arrived, and he sat down
with them. They were overflowing with amusement about something that had
happened at school, and John sat watching Dora's animated face with deep
pride and gratification. He was sure she was genuinely happy in her new
environment, and he was beginning to feel that he had made no mistake in
taking her from her old one. She showed by her fine color and increased
weight that she was in splendid health. The new dress which she now wore
and which Mrs. McGwire had selected was most becoming. Her abundant hair
under constant care had grown more tractable and was always well
arranged. Her little hands, once rough and soiled, had grown white,
soft, and pliant. Under Betty McGwire's persistent admonitions she had
left off using many incorrect and uncouth forms of speech, and, on the
whole, deported herself very properly.

Why should John not be proud of her? Indeed, she was all he had in the
world to care for, and he lavished the wealth of his saddened and lonely
soul upon her. He loved to work in his little room at night when she and
Minnie or Betty studied or read in hers, the door between being always
open. Frequently they asked him questions which he could not
answer--questions pertaining to history, geography, and science, and he
found that he himself was learning from the answers which they finally
secured from their books, teachers, and elsewhere. Sometimes he went
with them to free lectures given at night by the public schools. The
only place he refused to go with them was to the church and
Sunday-school, but, as the grave-faced Harold always escorted them to
these places, they did not need him. Sometimes the boy would speak
earnestly to him of the intricate theology he was mastering, but, as
John no longer combated such ideas with young or old, he always smiled
indulgently and let the subject pass.

"What does it matter?" he used to ask himself. "Everybody needs a belief
of some sort, and Harold's faith in snake- and whale-stories is as good
as any other, if it will keep him from stealing and murdering and make
him more considerate of his fellow-man. Let the boy preach. If people
are willing to pay to listen to him, that is their business and his. As
for me, it hit me once and sha'n't get a swipe at me again."

After dinner was over on the night following his promotion, he told the
three little girls that he wanted to "celebrat