"Really I
must! Yes, I must! Please, Jerry--let me go, dear----Yes, yes--you
must!" It took time, however, and was accomplished with extreme
difficulty. "But I _can_ go now. I couldn't when I said good-night
before----Oh! it's striking twelve! Good-night, Jerry----Merry
Christmas, Jerry!"
Before she quite went, however, she came back once more to lean over the
back of his chair and whisper in his ear:
"Jerry----"
"Yes?"
"Am I really--engaged--to you?"
"Darling--bless you--I'm afraid you are."
"Afraid?"
"Nan--I'm the happiest cripple on earth."
So she went softly out and closed the door. But it was not to sleep. As
for the man she left behind, his eyes looked into the smouldering fire
till well toward morning. It was not the doctor's prescription, but it
was the beginning of his cure.
III
THEIR WORD OF HONOUR
The president of the Great B---- railway system laid down the letter he
had just re-read three times, and turned about in his chair with an
expression of annoyance.
"I wish it were possible," he said slowly, "to find one boy or man in a
thousand who would receive instructions and carry them out to the letter
without a single variation from the course laid down.
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