"I brought him
here--made a man of him. Of course he doesn't know--" His eyes opened;
eagerly he ran on: "Why, Tom, it's just the boy and girl of it! Puppy
love! You know how that is."

"I didn't notice how things was going till if was too late. We might as
well talk frankly, Mr. Gray. Prob'ly it's well you saw me first, eh?
Well, when I understood where they was heading, I worried a lot--after
what you said that day, understand? But those two! Pshaw! It was like
they had known each other always. It was like 'Bob's' mother and me
when we first met; her beautiful and fine and educated, and me rough
and awkward. Only Buddy's a better boy than I was. He's got more in
him. I s'pose all womenfolks have that mother feeling that makes 'em
yearn over the unlikeliest fellers." Parker looked appealingly at his
stricken hearer, then quickly dropped his eyes, for Gray's countenance
was like that of a dying man--or of a man suffering the stroke of a
surgeon's knife.

"After all, it's youth. You're a good deal older than 'Bob,' and I
s'pose you sort of dazzled her. She likes you. She thinks you're great.
You kinda thrill her, but--I don't believe she ever dreamed you was
actually--that you actually cared for her. You've got a grand way, you
know, and she ain't a bit conceited about herself. Why, I _know_ she
never figgered it that way, because she made Buddy promise to tell you
the first thing; sent him to the bank a-purpose, thinking you'd be so
glad on his account."

"Then they've--settled it between them?"

Tom nodded gravely. "She told me last night. And from the way she told
me, I know it's not just boy and girl love. She's been singing like a
bird all day. And Buddy! He's breathless. I know how he feels. I
couldn't draw a full breath for two weeks after 'Bob's' mother--"

Gray uttered a wordless, gasping cry. He moved unsteadily toward the
door, then paused with his hand upon the knob. Tom Parker was surprised
when, after a moment, he saw the man's shoulders shake and heard him
utter a thin, cackling laugh. "Time is a grim old joker, isn't he? No
way of beating him, none at all. Now I thought I was young, but--Lucky
I found you here and spared my vanity." He turned, exposing a face
strangely contorted. "You won't mention my foolish mistake, will you?
No use hurting the ones we love. You know how we feel--fatherly. That's
it, fatherly love. I was a silly old fool. They'll be happy. Young
people like that--" The speaker ch