y best, however. I know what store my mother
sets by being well gowned. And as a husband, I can offer your daughter
as loving consideration as woman ever received at the hands of man.
Provided by some miracle I could win her consent, would you even
consider me, and such an arrangement?"

"Frankly sir," said Mr. Pryor, "I have reached the place where I would
be----" whenever you come to a long black line like that, it means that
he just roared a lot of words father never said, and never will--"glad
to! To tell the truth, the thing you choose to jestingly refer to as
'tinware'--I hope later to convince of the indelicacy of such
allusion--would place you in England on a social level above any we
ever occupied, or could hope to. Your education equals ours. You are
a physical specimen to be reckoned with, and I believe what you say of
yourself. There's something so clean and manly about you, it amounts
to confirmation. A woman should set her own valuation on that; and the
height of it should correspond with her knowledge of the world."

"Thank you!" said Laddie. "You are more than kind! more than generous!"

"As to the arrangements you could make for Pamela," said Mr. Pryor,
"she's all we have. Everything goes to her, ultimately. She has her
stipulated allowance now; whether in my house or yours, it would go
with her. Surely you wouldn't be so callous as to object to our giving
her anything that would please us!"

"Why should I?" asked Laddie. "That's only natural on your part. Your
child is your child; no matter where or what it is, you expect to
exercise a certain amount of loving care over it. My father and mother
constantly send things to their children absent from home, and they
take much pleasure in doing it. That is between you and your daughter,
of course. I shouldn't think of interfering. But in the meantime,
unless Miss Pryor has been converted to the beauties of plowing through
my continuous performance of over a week, I stand now exactly where I
did before, so far as she is concerned. If you and Mrs. Pryor have no
objection to me, if you feel that you could think of me, or find for me
any least part of a son's place in your hearts, I believe I should know
how to appreciate it, and how to go to work to make myself worthy of
it."

Mr. Pryor sat down so suddenly, the rail almost broke. I thought the
truth was, that he had heart trouble, himself. He stopped up, choked
on things, flopped aroun