with the faraway
look of a race that believes in fairies, but warm and human, too, with
an intimate mother look of concern for Neil.

Neil met it steadily, not a sullen boy as he would have been under that
questioning a year ago, not resenting it at all, but keeping his secrets
deliberately. It had always been hard for her to make him answer
questions. It was not even easy for her to ask them now.

"You don't sleep," she began.

"Neither do you, if you've been catching me at it," reasoned her son
correctly.

"You work too hard." She had made an accusation that he could not deny,
so he only smiled his quick, flashing smile. "You won't even take a day
to yourself."

"I'll have the office and most of the town to myself this afternoon.
I'll have to go. I've got something special to look into."

"Where's Charlie?" she demanded at once.

"Oh, he's not troubling me to-day. He's safe at Madison with his new
mare. He'll break loose there, then come home and repent and stay
straight for weeks and make no trouble for me. He's due to break loose.
He's been good too long--too good to be true. He was in fine form last
night." Mr. Charlie Brady's cousin grinned reminiscently.

"What do you mean?"

"He gave me quite a little side talk on good form in dress and diction.
Charlie claims I won't make an orator, and he don't like my taste in
ties."

"Who does he think he is?" flashed Mr. Brady's aunt indignantly.

"Who do you think he is?" her son inquired unexpectedly. "For whatever
you think, that's me. I'm no better than Charlie."

"Charlie?" Mrs. Donovan gasped, and then plunged into an indignant
defence of her son, not pausing to take breath.

"You?" she began. "You that's planted firm on the ladder and right-hand
to the Judge already, and him getting older every day, and Theodore Burr
just kept on in the office because Everard's after Burr's wife. So he
is, and the town knows it, and Theodore'll wake up to it soon. A fine
partner Theodore is for the Judge, poor boy, but he's a good boy, too,
though none too strong in the head; Lil Burr is a good girl, too, and
she'd make a good wife to Theodore if she could be left to herself.
She'd make it up with Theodore, as many a girl has done that's got more
for her husband to forgive than Lil.

"Poor Lil. Her head's high above me now, but the time was she cried on
my shoulder; crying for Charlie, she was, before ever Charlie took up
with Maggie and Lil with Theodore; when the