nard and Sylvia Flagg were rude
penstrokes. On the page of births was the name of Lida Kennard, and he
slowly ran his finger under it. When he gazed down at the floor again in
meditation he met the stare of the cat that Rickety Dick loved and
petted.

The cat was bestowing no friendly look on Flagg. He had often cuffed her
whenever she ventured to leap into his lap. He had repulsed the cat as
he repelled human beings who had sought to make up to him. Now he called
to her softly, inviting her with his hand. She backed away with
apprehensive haste.

"I'm starting late, pussy," he muttered. "And I was never much of a hand
at coaxing anybody to come to me. But I wish you'd hop up here on my
knee. Come, kitty! Please come!"

It was a long time before he was able to gain her confidence. He heard
the big bays go trampling away down the ledges. At last the cat came
cautiously, climbing up his leg, and sat on his knees and stared up at
his face in a questioning way.

"She's too much like her mother for me not to know her--like her mother
looked when she went away," he informed the cat. "I reckon I'm a whole
lot different right now than I ever was before. I'm old and sick--and
I'm different. I don't blame you for looking hard at me, kitty. I'm so
lonesome that I'm glad to have a cat to talk to. She's got her mother's
looks--and the Flagg grit. She wants to do it her own way--like I'd want
to do it my way, without being bothered. And I'm letting her do it. It
wouldn't be a square deal if I didn't let her. And she'll do it! It's in
her! She's trying to pay back. It's the style of the Flaggs. She didn't
come up here to smash me or Latisan. I didn't believe what she said--a
Flagg knows when another Flagg is lying. She came to help--and she'll
do it yet! She's Lida, kitty, Lida!" His tone caressed the name. His
hand caressed the written name.

Then he turned the pages slowly, going forward in the volume--to the New
Testament.

And after a time he found words which fitted his new mood and he read
aloud to his feline auditor.

"'Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil
speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: and be ye kind to one
another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another----'"

Jeff, the servitor, hearing the mumble of the old man's voice, tiptoed
to the door and peeped in. He goggled at the tableau and listened to the
words. He was in the state of mind of that oft-quoted doubter who spat
o