"T'anks!" he said--and swung himself, by his arms, into the chair.

"I want you to tell me all about this strange man in Needley, and how
you came to hear of him and believe in him," said Mrs. Thornton. "I was
only able to get just the barest outline of it out there on the
platform with the crowd around."

"Dat's easy," said the Flopper earnestly. "Sure, I'll tell you. I saw a
piece about dis Patriarch in one of de Noo Yoik papers, so I writes to
de postmaster of de town to find out if he was on de level--see?"

"Yes," said Mrs. Thornton. "And what did the postmaster say?"

The Flopper took Hiram Higgins' letter from his pocket and handed it to
Mrs. Thornton.

"Youse can read it fer yerself, mum," he said, with an air of one
delivering a final and irrefutable argument.

Mrs. Thornton read the letter carefully, almost anxiously.

"If only a part of this is true," she said wistfully, passing it to her
husband, "it is perfectly wonderful."

Mr. Thornton read it--with a grin.

"I don't know, I am sure," he observed caustically, handing the letter
to Miss Harvey, "how the medical profession would stand on this--would
your school endorse it, nurse?"