"I know,--but it's an anomalous position, just the same--an unbearable
one. Not one man in a thousand would consider it for an instant. But it's
the one I've accepted--for you!"

He drew her into his arms, and had his reward. He had not known she would
be so deeply touched, and his heart grew very warm.

"Bless you!" he murmured. "Do you care so much about seeing those fires
banked? They would never burn _you_!"

"Care? Oh, how I care! But, Red, you haven't accepted an 'anomalous
position.' It's a clearly defined one,--the position of the man who is
big enough to take second place, because it is his duty. And I'm so proud
of you--so proud! And prouder yet because you've controlled that fiery
temper."

"Don't praise me yet,--it may break out again. The test is coming in the
next forty-eight hours."

"You will stand it,--I know you will."

"You would put backbone into a feather-bed," said Red Pepper, with
conviction, and they laughed and clung together, in the early dawn.

* * * * *

Two days later Burns came home again as the first light of the morning
was breaking over the summer sky. It had been the third consecutive night
which he had spent at the bedside of the patient who would not let him
go,--the patient who, every time his weary eyes lifted, during the long