take supper with
us, as I told you he'd half-promised to do," said the deacon, in his
breezy fashion. "And see, he has fetched a little chap along with
him who'll warm your heart as nothing else could do. This is Joey
Walters, who, with his mother, is stopping at the Morgan home. Hugh
didn't say whether they were any relatives of his or not; but this is
a mighty winsome morsel, Mother, for you to hug."

He thereupon lifted the child up in his strong hands and placed him
in the lap of the old lady. Hugh noticed that she started, and
stared hard at the chubby face of little Joey, just as the deacon had
done; and then she turned her wondering eyes toward her husband.
There was a look akin to awe in their depths, something that told how
the sight of the child took her instantly back years and years to
those never-to-be-forgotten days when just such a lovely little
cherub had come to bless their home.

Then the old lady gave a long sigh.

"Oh, Joel!" she said, in a trembling voice, "how the sight of him
startled me. I can shut my eyes, and think time has taken me back to
our first year of wedded life. Yes, I am overjoyed at making the
acquaintance of such a robust little fellow. And, Hugh, forgive me
for not speaking to you before. I have heard much about you, and am
pleased to know you. But, above all things, let me thank you for
bringing this child out here to open the hearts of two lonely old
people who live only in the past as their sun goes down toward the
darkness of the night."

"I'll run along now, and take my regular bath after my work," said
Deacon Winslow, trying to speak cheerily, though Hugh knew very well
he had been more or less affected by what his wife had just said.

Left alone with the old lady, while the servant bustled in and out,
laying the cloth, and setting the table, Hugh commenced an
interesting conversation. She asked him a multitude of questions
covering all sorts of subjects, even to that of athletic sports.

"You see, the Deacon is fond of boys to an extent that it has become
his one hobby," she explained, in order to let Hugh know why she felt
an interest in such matters. "He spends all his spare time doing
things to make growing lads happier, and more contented in their
homes. People will never know one-tenth of what he's done to save
boys who were going the pace. His latest protege in that line you
happen to know, a hulking fellow named Nick Lang, who, I understand,
has