of her words.

Auntie Sue came quickly back to her subject: "Only thirty acres of my
little farm is under cultivation. The remaining fifty acres is wild
timberland. If I could have that fifty acres also in cultivation, with
the money that the timber would bring,--which would not be a great
deal,--I would be fairly safe for the--for the rest of my evening," she
finished with a smile. "Do you see?"

"You mean that I--that you want me to stay here and work for you?"

"I mean," she answered, "that, if you choose to stay for awhile, you
need not feel that you would be accepting my hospitality as charity,"
she returned gently. "I am not exactly offering you a job: I am only
showing you how you could, without sacrificing your pride, remain in
this quiet retreat for awhile before returning to the world."

"It would be heaven, Auntie Sue," he returned earnestly. "I want to stay
so bad that I fear myself. Let me think it over until to-morrow. Let me
be sure that I am doing the right thing, and not merely the thing I want
to do."

She liked his answer, and did not mention the subject again until Brian
himself was ready. And, strangely enough, it was poor, twisted Judy who
helped him to set matters straight.



CHAPTER X.