oman's
tenderness.

Molly suffered him passively, and the first wild agony of her trouble
spent itself unrestrained on his shoulder. Then she grew calmer, and
presently begged him in a whisper to read the message which Charlie had
left behind him.

For a moment Fisher hesitated; then, as she repeated her desire, he took
up the scrawl and deliberately read it through. It had evidently been
written immediately after his interview with the writer.

"Dear Molly," the note said, "It's all right with Fisher, so
don't you worry yourself! I clear out to-morrow, so that there
may be no awkwardness, but we haven't quarrelled, he and I.
Forget all about this business! It's been a mistake from start
to finish. I ought to have known that I was only fit to be a
looker-on when I fell at the first fence. You put your money on
Fisher and you'll never lose a halfpenny! I'm nothing but a
humble spectator, and I wish you--and him also--the best of
luck. If I might be permitted, to offer a little, serious,
fatherly advice, it would be this:

"Don't let yourself get dazzled by the outside shine of any
man's actions! A man isn't necessarily a hero because he
doesn't run away. It is the true-hearted, steady-going chaps
like Fisher who keep the world wagging. They are the solid
material. The others are only a sort of trimming stuck on for
effect and torn off when the time comes for something new. So
marry the man you love, Molly, and forget that anyone else ever
made a fool of himself for your sweet sake!

"Your friend for ever,

"Charlie."

Thus ended, with a simplicity sublime, the few words of fatherly advice
which as a legacy this boy had left behind him.

Fisher laid the note reverently aside and spoke with a great gentleness.

"Tell me, dear," he said, "will it make it any easier for you if I go
away? If so--you have only to say so."

The words cost him greater resolution than any he had ever uttered. Yet
he said them without apparent effort.

Molly did not answer him for many seconds. Her head drooped a little
lower.

"I have been--dazzled," she said at last, and there was a piteous quiver
in her voice. "I do not know if I shall ever make you understand."

"You need never attempt it, Molly," he answered very steadily. "I make
no claim upon you. Simply, I am yours to keep or to throw away. Which
are you going to do?"

He