Thornton and I did--try and appreciate the little things of life too."

"Oh!" exclaimed Helena angrily. "Doc Madison, I'd like to--"

"Yes, all right, of course," interrupted Madison, grinning. "Good-by,
that's all--I'm off--see, they're waiting for me"--and leaving Helena
with an outraged little flush upon her cheek, he hurried through the
door after the others.




--XIV--

KNOTTING THE STRINGS


It is a very old saying, and therefore of course indisputably true, that
some have greatness thrust upon them. True of men, it is, in one
instance at least, true of places--Needley, from an unheard of, modest,
innocuous and unassuming little hamlet, leaped in a flash into the focus
of the world's eyes. In huge headlines the papers in every city of every
State carried it on their front pages. And while the first astounding
despatch from the metropolitan newspaper man was being copied by leading
dailies everywhere, there came on top of it, clinching its veracity
beyond possibility of doubt, the news that Robert Thornton, the well
known Chicago multi-millionaire, had given fifty thousand dollars to the
cause. A man, much less a multi-millionaire, does not give fifty
thousand dollars for a bubble, so the managing editors of the leading
dailies rushed for their star reporters--and the star reporters rushed