The Twenty-Fourth of June: Midsummer's Day

by Grace S. Richmond

  CHAPTER XV

  MAKING MEN

  "Grandfather, have you a good courage for adventure?"

  Matthew Kendrick looked up from his letters. His grandson Richard stoodbefore him, his face lighted by that new look of expectancy andenthusiasm which the older man so often noted now. It was early in theday, Mr. Kendrick having but just partaken of his frugal breakfast. Hehad eaten alone this morning, having learned to his surprise thatRichard was already off.

  "Why, Dick? What do you want of me?" his grandfather asked, laying downhis letters. They were important, but not so important, to his mind, asthe giving ear to his grandson. It was something about the business, hehad no doubt. The boy was always talking about the business these days,and he found always a ready listener in the old man who was such apastmaster in the whole difficult subject.

  "It's the mildest sort of weather--bright sun, good roads most of theway, and something worth seeing at the other end. Put on your fur-linedcoat, sir, will you? and come with me up to Eastman. I want to show youthe new shop."

  Mr. Kendrick's eye brightened. So the boy wanted him, did he? Wanted totake him off for the day, the whole day, with himself. It was pleasantnews. But he hesitated a little, looking toward the window, where thelate March sun was, surely enough, streaming in warmly. The barebranches outside were motionless; moreover, there was no wind, such ashad prevailed of late.

  "I can keep you perfectly warm," Richard added, seeing the hesitation."There's an electric foot-warmer in the car, and you shall have a heavyrug. I'll have you there in a couple of hours, and you'll not be evenchilled. If the weather changes, you can come back by train. Pleasecome--will you?"

  "I believe I will, Dick, if you'll not drive too fast. I should like tosee this wonderful new store, to be sure."

  "We'll go any pace you like, sir. I've been looking for a day when youcould make the trip safely, and this is it." He glanced at the letters."Could you be ready in--half an hour?"

  "As soon as I can dictate four short replies. Ring for Mr. Stanton,please, and I'll soon be with you."

  Richard went out as his grandfather's private secretary came in.Although Matthew Kendrick no longer felt it necessary to go to hisoffice in the great store every day, he was accustomed to attend to acertain amount of selected correspondence, and ordinarily spent an hourafter breakfast in dictation to a young stenographer who came to him forthe purpose.

  Within a half hour the two were off, Mr. Kendrick being quite as alertin the matter of dispatching business and getting under way toward freshaffairs as he had ever been. It was with an expression of interestedanticipation that the old man, wrapped from head to foot, took his placein the long, low-hung roadster, beneath the broad hood which Richard hadraised, that his passenger might be as snug as possible.

  For many miles the road was of macadam, and they bowled along at a ratewhich consumed the distance swiftly, though not too fast for Mr.Kendrick's comfort. Richard artfully increased his speed by fractionaldegrees, so that his grandfather, accustomed to being conveyed at a verymoderate mileage about the city in his closed car, should not bestartled by the sense of flight which he might have had if the young manhad started at his usual break-neck pace.

  They did not talk much, for Matthew Kendrick was habitually cautiousabout using his voice in winter air, and Richard was too engaged withthe car and with his own thoughts to attempt to keep up a one-sidedconversation. More than once, however, a brief colloquy took place. Oneof the last of these, before approaching their destination, was asfollows:

  "Keeping warm, grandfather?"

  "Perfectly, Dick, thanks to your foot-warmer."

  "Tired, at all?"

  "Not a particle. On the contrary, I find the air very stimulating."

  "I thought you would. Wonderful day for March, isn't it?"

  "Unusually fine."

  "We'll be there before you know it. There's one bad stretch of a coupleof miles, beyond the turn ahead, and another just this side of Eastman,but Old Faithful here will make light work of 'em. She could ploughthrough a quicksand if she had to, not to mention spring mud to thehubs."

  "The car seems powerful," said the old man, smiling behind his upturnedfur collar. "I suppose a young fellow like you wouldn't be content withanything that couldn't pull at least ten times as heavy a load as itneeded to."

  "I suppose not," laughed Richard. "Though it's not so much a question ofa heavy load as of plenty of power when you want it, and of speed--allthe time. Suppose we were being chased by wild Indians right now,grandfather. Wouldn't it be a satisfaction to walk away from themlike--this?"

  The car shot ahead with a long, lithe spring, as if she had been usingonly a fraction of her power, and had reserves greater than could bereckoned. Her gait increased as she flew down the long straightawayahead until her speedometer on the dash recorded a pace with which thefastest locomotive on the track which ran parallel with the road wouldhave had to race with wide-open throttle to keep neck to neck. Richardhad not meant to treat his grandfather to an exhibition of this sort,being well aware of the older man's distaste for modern high speed, butthe sight of the place where he was in the habit of racing with anypassing train was too much for his young blood and love of swift flight,and he had covered the full two-mile stretch before he could bringhimself to slow down to a more moderate gait.

  Then he turned to look at as much of his grandfather's face as he coulddiscern between cap-brim and collar. The eagle eyes beneath their heavybrows were gazing straight ahead, the firmly moulded lips wereclose-set, the whole profile, with its large but well-cut nose,suggested grim endurance. Matthew Kendrick had made no remonstrance,nor did he now complain, but Richard understood.

  "You didn't like that, did you, grandfather? I had no business to do it,when I said I wouldn't. Did I chill you, sir? I'm sorry," was his quickapology.

  "You didn't chill my body, Dick," was the response. "You did make merealize the difference between--youth and age."

  "That's not what I ever want to do," declared the young man, with swiftcompunction. "Not when your age is worth a million times my youth, inknowledge and power. And of course I'm showing up a particularlyunfortunate trait of youth--to lose its head! Somehow all the boy in mecomes to the top when I see that track over there, even when there's nocompeting train. Did you ever know a boy who didn't want to be an enginedriver?"

  "I was a boy once," said Matthew Kendrick. "Trains in my day were doingwell when they made twenty-five miles an hour. I shouldn't mind yourracing with one of those."

  "I'm racing with one of the fastest engines ever built when I set up astore in Eastman and try to appropriate some of your methods. I wonderwhat you'll think of it?" said Richard gayly. "Well, here's the badstretch. Sit tight, grandfather. I'll pick out the best footing thereis, but we may jolt about a good bit. I'm going to try what can be doneto get these fellows to put a bottom under their spring mud!"

  When the town was reached Richard convoyed his companion straight to thebest hotel, saw that he had a comfortable chair and as appetizing a mealas the house could afford, and let him rest for as long a time afterwardas he himself could brook waiting. When Mr. Kendrick professed himselfin trim for whatever might come next Richard set out with him for theshort walk to the store of Benson & Company.

  The young man's heart was beating with surprising rapidity as the twoapproached the front of the brick building which represented his presentventure into the business world. He knew just how keen an eye was toinspect the place, and what thorough knowledge was to pass judgment uponit.

  "Here we are," he said abruptly, with an effort to speak lightly. "Theseare our front windows. Carson dresses them himself. He seems a wonder tome--I can't get hold of it at all. Rather a good effect, don't youthink?"

  He was distinctly nervous, and he could not conceal it, as MatthewKendrick turned to look at the front of the building, taking it all in,it seemed, with one sweeping glance which dwelt only for a minute apieceon the two big windows, and then turned to the
entrance, above whichhung the signs, old and new. The visitor made no comment, only nodded,and made straight for the door.

  As it swung open under Richard's hand, the young man's first glance wasfor the general effect. He himself was looking at everything as if forthe first time, intensely alive to the impression it was to make uponhis judge. He found that the general effect was considerably obscured bythe number of people at the counters and in the aisles, more, it seemedto him, than he had ever seen there before. His second observation wasthat the class of shoppers seemed particularly good, and he tried torecall the special feature of Carson's advertisement of the eveningbefore. There were several different lines, he remembered, to whichCarson had called special attention, with the assertion that the valueswere absolute and the quality guaranteed.

  But his attention was very quickly diverted from any study of the storeitself to the even more interesting and instructive study of the old manwho accompanied him. He had invited an expert to look the situationover, there could be no possible doubt of that. And the expert waslooking it over--there could be no doubt of that, either. As they passeddown one aisle and up another, Richard could see how the eagle eyesnoted one point after another, yet without any disturbing effect ofsearching scrutiny. Here and there Mr. Kendrick's gaze lingered a triflelonger, and more than once he came close to a counter and brought aneyeglass to bear on the goods there displayed, nodding pleasantly at thesalespeople as he did so. And everywhere he went glances followed him.

  It seemed to Richard that he had never realized before what adistinguished looking old man his grandfather was. He was not of morethan average height; he was dressed, though scrupulously, asunobtrusively as is any quiet gentleman of his years and position; butnone the less was there something about him which spoke of the man ofaffairs, of the leader, the organizer, the general.

  Alfred Carson came hurrying out of the little office as the twoKendricks came in sight. Matthew Kendrick greeted him with distinctevidence of pleasure.

  "Ah, Mr. Carson," he said, "I am very glad to see you again. I havemissed you from your department. How do you find the new business? Moreinteresting than the old, eh?"

  "It is always interesting, sir," responded Carson, "to enlarge one'sfield of operations."

  Mr. Kendrick laughed heartily at this, turning to Richard as he did so."That's a great compliment to you, Dick," he said, "that Mr. Carsonfeels he has enlarged his field by coming up here to you, and leavingme."

  "Don't you think it's true, grandfather?" challenged Richard boldly.

  "To be sure it's true," agreed Mr. Kendrick. "But it sometimes takes awise man to see that a swing from the centre of things to the rim is theway to swing back to the centre finally. Well, I've looked about quite abit,--what next, Dick?"

  "Won't you come into the office, sir, and ask us any questions that youlike? We want your criticism and your suggestions," declared Richard."Where's Mr. Benson, Mr. Carson? I'd like him to meet my grandfatherright away. I thought we'd find him somewhere about the place beforenow."

  "He's just come into the office," said Carson, leading the way. "He'llbe mightily pleased to see Mr. Kendrick."

  This prophecy proved true. Hugh Benson, who had not known of hispartner's intention to bring Mr. Kendrick, Senior, to visit the store,flushed with pleasure and a little nervousness when he saw him, and gaveevidence of the latter as he cleared a chair for his guest and knockeddown a pile of small pasteboard boxes as he did so.

  "We don't usually keep such things in here," he apologized, and sentpost-haste for a boy to take the offending objects away. Then the partysettled down for a talk, Richard carefully closing the door, afternotifying a clerk outside to prevent interruption for so long as itshould remain closed.

  "Now, grandfather, talk business to us, will you?" he begged. "Tell uswhat you think of us, and don't spare us. That's what we want, isn'tit?" And he appealed to his two associates with a look which bade themspeak out.

  "We certainly do, Mr. Kendrick," Hugh Benson assured the visitoreagerly. "It's our chance to have an expert opinion."

  "It will be even more than that," said Alfred Carson. "It will be theopinion of the master of all experts in the business world."

  "Fie, Mr. Carson," said the old man, with, however, a kind look at theyoung man, who, he knew, did not mean to flatter him but to speak theundeniable truth, "you must remember the old saying about praise to theface. Still, I must break that rule myself when I tell you all that I amgreatly pleased with the appearance of the place, and with all thatmeets the eye in a brief visit."

  Richard glowed with satisfaction at this, but both Benson and Carsonappeared to be waiting for more. The old man looked at them and nodded.

  "You have both had much more experience than this boy of mine," said he,"and you know that all has not been said when due acknowledgment hasbeen made of the appearance of a place of business. What I want to know,gentlemen, is--does the appearance tell the absolute truth about theintegrity of the business?"

  Richard looked at him quickly, for with the last words his grandfather'stone had changed from mere suavity to a sudden suggestion of sternness.Instinctively he straightened in his chair, and his glance at the othertwo young men showed that they had quite as involuntarily straightenedin theirs. As the head of the firm, Hugh Benson, after a moment's pause,answered, in a quietly firm tone which made Richard regard him withfresh respect:

  "If it didn't, Mr. Kendrick, I shouldn't want to be my father'ssuccessor. He may have been a failure in business, but it was not forwant of absolute integrity."

  The keen eyes softened as they rested on the young man's face, and Mr.Kendrick bent his head, as if he would do honour to the memory of afather who, however unsuccessful as the world judges success, could makea son speak as this son had spoken. "I am sure that is true, Mr.Benson," he said, and paused for a moment before he went on:

  "It is the foundation principle of business--that a reputation fortrustworthiness can be built only on the rock of real merit. Theappearance of the store must not tell one lie--not one--from front doorto back--not even the shadow of a lie. Nothing must be left to thecustomer's discretion. If he pays so much money he must get so muchvalue, whether he knows it or not." He stopped abruptly, waited for alittle, his eyes searching the faces before him. Then he said, with achange of tone:

  "Do you want to tell me something about the management of the business,gentlemen?"

  "We want to do just that, Mr. Kendrick," Benson answered.

  So they set it before him, he and Alfred Carson, as they had worked itout, Richard remaining silent, even when appealed to, merely sayingquietly: "I'm only the crudest kind of a beginner--you fellows will haveto do the talking," and so leaving it all to the others. They showed Mr.Kendrick the books of the firm, they explained to him their system ofbuying, of analyzing their sales that they might learn how to buy atbest advantage and sell at greatest profit; of getting rid of goodsquickly by attractive advertising; of all manner of details large andsmall, such as pertain to the conduct of a business of the character oftheirs.

  They grew eager, enthusiastic, as they talked, for they found theirlistener ready of understanding, quick of appreciation, kindly ofcriticism, yet so skilful at putting a finger on their weak places thatthey could only wonder and take earnest heed of every word he said. AsRichard watched him, he found himself understanding a little MatthewKendrick's extraordinary success. If his personality was still one tomake a powerful impression on all who came in contact with him, whatmust it have been, Richard speculated, in his prime, in those wonderfulyears when he was building the great business, expanding it with adaring of conception and a rapidity of execution which had fairly takenaway the breath of his contemporaries. He had introduced new methods,laid down new principles, defied old systems, and created better oneshaving no precedent anywhere but in his own productive brain. It mightjustly be said that he had virtually revolutionized the mercantileworld, for when the bridges that he built were found to hold, in spiteof all dire
prophecy to the contrary, others had crossed them, too, andprofited by his bridge building.

  The three young men did their best to lead Mr. Kendrick to talk ofhimself, but of that he would do little. Constantly he spoke of the workof his associates, and when it became necessary to allude to himself itwas always as if they had been identified with every move of his own. Itwas Alfred Carson who best recognized this trait of peculiar modesty inthe old man, and who understood most fully how often the more impersonal"we" of his speech really stood for the "I" who had been the mainspringof all action in the growth of the great affairs he spoke of. Carson wasthe son of a man who had been one of the early heads of a newly createddepartment, in the days when departments were just being tried, and hehad heard many a time of the way in which Matthew Kendrick had held tohis course of introducing innovations which had startled the men mostclosely associated with him, and had made them wonder if he were notgoing too far for safety or success.

  "Well, well, gentlemen," said Mr. Kendrick, rising abruptly at last,"you have beguiled me into long speech. It takes me back to old days tosit and discuss a young business like this one with young men like you.It has been very interesting, and it delights me to find you so ready totake counsel, while at the same time you show a healthy belief in yourown judgment. You will come along--you will come along. You will makemistakes, but you will profit by them. And you will remember always, Ihope, a motto I am going to give you."

  He paused and looked searchingly into each face before him: HughBenson's, serious and sincere; Alfred Carson's, energy and purposeshowing in every line; his own boy's, Richard's, keen interest and acertain proud wonder looking out of his fine eyes as he watched the oldman who seemed to him to-day, somehow, almost a stranger in hisunwontedly aroused speech.

  "The most important thing a business can do," said Matthew Kendrickslowly, "is to make men of those who make the business."

  He let the words sink in. He saw, after an instant, the response in eachface, and he nodded, satisfied. He held out his hand to each in turn,including his grandson, and received three hearty grips of gratitude andunderstanding.

  As he drove away with Richard his eyes were bright under their heavybrows. It had done him good, this visit to the place where his thoughtshad often been of late, and he was pleased with the way Richard hadborne himself throughout the interview. He could not have asked betterof the heir to the Kendrick millions than the unassuming and yet quietlyassured manner Richard had shown. It had a certain quality, the old manproudly considered, which was lacking in that of both Benson and Carson,fine fellows though they were, and well-mannered in every way. Itreminded Matthew Kendrick of the boy's own father, who had been a manamong men, and a gentleman besides.

  "Grandfather, we shall pass Mr. Rufus Gray's farm in a minute. Don't youwant to stop and see them?"

  "Rufus Gray?" questioned Mr. Kendrick. "The people we entertained atChristmas? I should like to stop, if it will not delay us too long. Itseems a colder air than it did this morning."

  "There's a bit of wind, and it's usually colder, facing this way. If youprefer, after the call, I'll take you back to the station and run downalone."

  "We'll see. Is this the place we're coming to? A pleasant old placeenough, and it looks like the right home for such a pair," commented Mr.Kendrick, gazing interestedly ahead as the car swung in at a stonegateway, and followed a winding roadway toward a low-lying, hospitablelooking white house, with long porches beyond masses of bare shrubbery.

  It seemed that the welcoming look of the house was justified in theattitude of its inmates, for the car had but stopped when the door flewopen, and Rufus Gray, his face beaming, bade them enter. Inside, hiswife came forward with her well-remembered sunny smile, and in a triceMatthew Kendrick and his grandson found themselves sitting in front of ablazing fire upon a wide hearth, receiving every evidence that theirpresence brought delight.

  Richard looked on with inward amusement and satisfaction at the unwontedsight of his grandfather partaking of a cup of steaming coffee rich withcountry cream, and eating with the appetite of a boy a huge,sugar-coated doughnut which his hostess assured him could not possiblyhurt him.

  "They're the real old-fashioned kind, Mr. Kendrick," said she. "Raisedlike bread, you know, and fried in lard we make ourselves in a way Ihave so that not a bit of grease gets inside. My husband thinks they'rethe only fit food to go with coffee."

  "They are the most delicious food I ever ate, certainly, Madam Gray, andI find myself agreeing with him, now that I taste them," declared Mr.Kendrick, and Richard, disposing with zest of a particularly huge, lightspecimen of Mrs. Gray's art, seconded his grandfather's appreciation.

  They made a long call, Mr. Kendrick appearing to enjoy himself asRichard could not remember seeing him do before. He and Mr. Gray foundmany subjects to discuss with mutual interest, and the nodding of thetwo heads in assent at frequent intervals proved how well they foundthemselves agreeing.

  Richard, as at the time of the Grays' brief visit at his own home,devoted himself to the lady whom he always thought of as "Aunt Ruth,"secretly dwelling on the hope that he might some day acquire the rightto call her by that pleasant title. He led her, by artfulcircumlocutions, always tending toward one object, to speak of hernieces and nephews, and when he succeeded in drawing from her certainall too meagre news of Roberta, he exulted in his ardent soul, though hedid his best not to betray himself.

  "Maybe," said she, quite suddenly, "you'd enjoy looking at the familyalbum. Robby and Ruth always get it out when they come here--they liketo see their father and mother the way they used to look. There's someof themselves, too, though the photographs folks have now are too big togo in an old-fashioned album like this, and the ones they've sent melately aren't in here."

  Never did a modern young man accept so eagerly the chance to scan thecollection of curious old likenesses such as is found between the coversof the now despised "album" of the days of their grandfathers. Richardturned the pages eagerly, scanning them for faces he knew, anddiscovered much satisfaction in one charming picture of Roberta's motherat eighteen, because of its suggestion of the daughter.

  "Eleanor was the beauty of the family, and is yet, I always say,"asserted Aunt Ruth. "Robby's like her, they all think, but she can'thold a candle to her mother. She's got more spirit in her face, maybe,but her features aren't equal to Eleanor's."

  Richard did not venture to disagree with this opinion, but he privatelyconsidered that, enchanting as was the face of Mrs. Robert Gray ateighteen, that of her daughter Roberta, at twenty-four, dangerouslyrivalled it.

  "I could tell better about the likeness if I saw a late picture of MissRoberta," he observed, his eyes and mouth grave, but his voiceexpectant. Aunt Ruth promptly took the suggestion, and limping daintilyaway, returned after a minute with a framed photograph of Roberta andRuth, taken by one of those masters of the art who understand how tobring out the values of the human face, yet to leave provocative shadowswhich make for mystery and charm. Richard received it with a respectfulhand, and then had much ado to keep from showing how the sight of herpictured face made his heart throb.

  When the two visitors rose to go Aunt Ruth put in a plea for theirremaining overnight.

  "It's turned colder since you came up this morning, Mr. Kendrick," saidshe. "Why not stay with us and go back in the morning? We'd be sopleased to entertain you, and we've plenty of room--too much room for ustwo old folks, now the children are all married and gone."

  To Richard's surprise his grandfather did not immediately decline. Helooked at Aunt Ruth, her rosy, smiling face beaming with hospitality,then he glanced at Richard.

  "Do stay," urged Uncle Rufus. "Remember how you took us in at midnight,and what a good time you gave us the two days we stayed? It would makeus mighty happy to have you sleep under our roof, you and your grandsonboth, if he'll stay, too."

  "I confess I should like to sleep under this roof," admitted MatthewKendrick. "It reminds me of my father's old home. It's very good of yo
u,Madam Gray, to ask us, and I believe I shall remain. As to Richard--"

  "I'd like nothing better," declared that young man promptly.

  So it was settled. Richard drove back to the store and gathered togethervarious articles for his own and his grandfather's use, and returned tothe Gray fireside. The long and pleasant evening which followed thehearty country supper gave him one more new experience in the long listof them he was acquiring. Somehow he had seldom been happier than whenhe followed his hostess into the comfortable room upstairs she assignedhim, opening from that she had given the elder man. Cheerful firesburned in old-fashioned, open-hearthed Franklin stoves, in both rooms,and the atmosphere was fragrant with the mingled breath of cracklingapple-wood, and lavender from the fine old linen with which both bedshad been freshly made.

  "Sleep well, my dear friends," said Aunt Ruth, in her quaintly friendlyway, as she bade her guests good-night and shook hands with them,receiving warm responses.

  "One must find sweet repose under your roof," said Matthew Kendrick, andRichard, attending his hostess to the door, murmured, "You look as ifyou'd put two small boys to bed and tucked them in!" at which Aunt Ruthlaughed with pleasure, nodding at him over her shoulder as she wentaway.

  Presently, as Matthew Kendrick lay down in the soft bed, his face towardthe glow of his fire that he might watch it, Richard knocked and came infrom his own room and, crossing to the bed, stood leaning on thefoot-board.

  "Too sleepy to talk, grandfather?" he asked.

  "Not at all, my boy," responded the old man, his heart stirring in hisbreast at this unwonted approach at an hour when the two were usuallyfar apart. Never that he could remember had Richard come into his roomafter he had retired.

  "I wanted to tell you," said the young man, speaking very gently, "thatyou've been awfully kind, and have done us all a lot of good to-day. Andyou've done me most of all."

  "Why, that's pleasant news, Dick," answered old Matthew Kendrick, hiseyes fixed on the shadowy outlines of the face at the foot of the bed."Sit down and tell me about it."

  So Richard sat down, and the two had such a talk as they had had neverbefore in their lives--a long, intimate talk, with the barriersdown--the barriers which both felt now never should have existed. Lyingthere in the soft bed of Aunt Ruth's best feathers, with the odour ofher lavender in his nostrils, and the sound of the voice he loved in hisears, the old man drank in the delight of his grandson's confidence, andthe wonder of something new--the consciousness of Richard's realaffection, and his heart beat with slow, heavy throbs of joy, such as hehad never expected to feel again in this world.

  "Altogether," said Richard, rising reluctantly at last, as the tall oldclock on the landing near-by slowly boomed out the hour of midnight,"it's been a great day for me. I'd been looking forward with quite a bitof dread to bringing you up, I knew you'd see so plainly wherever wewere lacking; but you were so splendidly kind about it--"

  "And why shouldn't I be kind, Dick?" spoke his grandfather eagerly."What have I in the world to interest me as you and your affairsinterest me? Can any possible stroke of fortune seem so great to me asyour development into a manhood of accomplishment? And when it is in thevery world I know so well and have so near my heart--"

  Richard interrupted him, not realizing that he was doing so, but full oflonging to make all still further clear between them. "Grandfather, Iwant to make a confession. This world of yours--I didn't want to enterit."

  "I know you didn't, Dick. And I know why. But you are getting over that,aren't you? You are beginning to realize that it isn't what a man does,but the way he does it, that matters."

  "Yes," said Richard slowly. "Yes, I'm beginning to realize that. And doyou want to know what made me realize it to-day, as never before?"

  The old man waited.

  "It was the sight of you, sir--and--the recognition of the power youhave been all your life;--and the--sudden appreciation of the"--hestumbled a little, but he brought the words out forcefully at theend--"of the very great gentleman you are!"

  He could not see the hot tears spring into the old eyes which had notknown such a sign of emotion for many years. But he could feel the throbin the low voice which answered him after a moment.

  "I may not deserve that, Dick, but--it touches me, coming from you."

  When Richard had gone back to his own room, Matthew Kendrick lay for along time, wide awake, too happy to sleep. In the next room hisgrandson, before he slept, had formulated one more new idea:

  "There's something in the association with people like these that makesa fellow feel like being absolutely honest with them, witheverybody--most of all with himself. What is it?"

  And pondering this, he was lost in the world of dreams.