d them! My nurse in your room, too?"

"Yes. We had the same nurse."

"Sit up and have some pork and beans and a cup of coffee, Jim," said I.
I could see then that there was no need to go into too many
particulars. I did not care to go much further till I had collected
some definite thoughts and arranged to conceal the amount of cash my
wisdom had seen fit to call forth from my bank account for a lot of old
junk that had been stored in Jim Hosley's bureau, and had fallen down to
the next floor when the fire took place--just the spot the detectives
wanted it to land precisely, in order to connect me with the case. It
would not have surprised me to learn that Smith and Obreeon, his partner
(for I could plainly see he was), had started that fire with full
knowledge of the location of those letters and the exact spot they would
fall if a match were touched to our abode at the proper time. My
handwriting in the Tescheron messages had given me away.

"What do you think of those beans, Jim?"

"I think they taste more like home than anything I have met since I took
that bath."

"There, don't say another word, Jim. I won't accuse you of anything. You
had your bath, and both of us have enjoyed the sweat it produced. When
we come out of this thing we'll be the purest mortals that ever took a
course in practical morality over a hot stove as a starter. I told you
about that quilt. So, that is the way it was, eh? Well, Jim, you
certainly do know how to set a house afire, although I never believed
you would set the world afire. I take it you will clip the ends pretty
short when you start in to make quilts again for that purpose. But never
mind, old boy, try another cup of this coffee."

"Why is it they can't make coffee in a hospital?" asked Jim.

"They do make it," I answered; "but the doctors and nurses never let any
of it get away from them. They find it too strong for boarders. It's bad
for their nerves. The only thing that's good for a sick man is something
you can sterilize, and then they may charge double prices for it. Jim,
did you ever feel so hungry before when you settled down there?"

I was trying to divert his attention from the trouble I had put him
through, for I realized there was no hope for his case unless I yet took
a hand in and patched up the chasm which separated him from an imagined
paradise.

It is surprising what a relation there is between the digestion and
heart.

"We were to have been married a w