bout eight o'clock. It's not far from here. I am
glad you pulled yourself together and went to work. That is a good deal
better than the business you tried to follow when we first met,"--and
one of his dry smiles flickered about his mouth. "And now, good night,"
and he held out his hand.

The man drew back. It was a new experience. "You mean it?" he asked.

"Yes, give me your hand. Now that you are decent I want to shake it.
That is the only way we can help each other."

Kitty was poring over her accounts when Felix arrived at the
express-office and made his way to her sitting-room. She had had a busy
day, the holiday season always bringing a rush of extra work, and her
wagons had been kept going since daylight. The trend of travel was to
Long Island and Jersey towns, the goods being mainly for the Christmas
and New Year's festivities. John was away--somewhere between the Battery
and Central Park--and so were Mike and Bobby, the boy having been
pressed into service now that his vacation had begun.

"Are you too busy to talk to me, Mistress Kitty?" he said, stripping off
his mackintosh and hanging it where its drip would do no harm.

"Too busy! God rest ye. Mr. O'Day! I'm never too busy to eat, sleep,
look after John and Bobby, and listen to what ye've got to say. Hold
on till I put these bills away. There ain't one of 'em'll be paid till
after New Year--not then, if the customer can help it. They'll all spend
their own money or somebody else's. There!"--and she laid the pile on a
shelf behind her. "Now, go on--what's it ye want? Come, out with it; and
mind, I've said 'Yes, and welcome' before ye've asked it."

O'Day, from his seat near the stove, studied her face for a moment, his
own brightening as he felt the warmth of her loyalty. "Don't promise too
much till you hear me out. I am looking for a job."

Kitty turned quickly, her eyes two round O's, all the ruddiness gone
from her cheeks. "Mr. O'Day! Why! Why!--and what's Otto done to ye? I'll
go to him this minute and--"

Felix laughed gently. "You will do nothing of the kind. Mr. Kling is all
right and so am I. I want the job for a tramp who tried to hold me up
one night, and who is now scrubbing the floor in a rather disreputable
public house on Third Avenue."

Kitty let out all her breath and brought her plump hands down on her
plump knees, her body rocking as she did so. "Oh, is that it? What a
start ye give me! I thought ye and Kling had quarrelled. Sure,