o back to your beloved art, and we will
start really as Mr. Frisby did this time--without a dollar!
I have no preparation to make. Let me know when you are
coming and I will be ready.

"And now, True, good-by, with the happiest of New Years for
you and your good friends, who will, I am sure, be my good
friends, too, though I take you away from them in part. I
wonder if it would be right for me to say I am glad we
failed? I am afraid that, even if it is wrong, it is the
truth. I _know_ it is! There are many things that we could
do with wealth, but there are so many things so much sweeter
that we might not have; and oh, dear True, I am only a
woman, and selfish, after all.

"Always and always your

"DOROTHY.

"P.S. I almost forgot to thank you for the autograph volume.
You could not have pleased me more.

"DORRY."

XXII

THE BREAD LINE

Livingstone did not read quite all the letter. There were lines and
paragraphs here and there that he entered, stumbled, and backed out
of--taking at last a road around that was so evidently his own as to
make Perner remark once:

"Don't revise, Stony; you can't improve on the original."

And when he had finished, none of the three spoke for at least a minute.
Then Van Dorn said huskily:

"I knew she was a bully girl when she sent that subscription-- I could
tell by the writing."

And Perner added:

"That subscription letter is mine, Stony. As acting manager of the
'Whole Family' I claim it."

Then, all at once, they had hold of Livingstone's hands, and when the
three faced the fire again it reflected in their eyes with unusual
brightness.

"I can't get it cashed to-night," Livingstone reflected presently; "it's
too big."

"No; and you are not to get it cashed any night until you find that
apartment," said Van Dorn.

Perner nodded.

"Van and I are grateful," he assented, "but with our few wants, and our
marvelous talents, coupled with my ten years' business experience--"

"But you haven't had any dinner, nor any lunch, nor breakfast,"
interrupted Livingstone, speaking as one who had himself fared
sumptuously.

"A letter like that is worth more than a good many dinners," said Van
Dorn.

"Yes," agreed Perner; "it is--to all of us."

The faces of the two older men had become reminiscent. Perhaps they
were remembering--one a wife, the other a sweetheart--both memories now
f