point where he felt that death would be something of a relief.
Militating against his recovery had been the parting words of Elizabeth
Compton the evening that he had dined at her father's home, but now all
that was very nearly forgotten--at least crowded into the dim vistas of
recollection by the unselfish friendship of this girl of the streets.

Jimmy's nurse quite fell in love with Edith.

"She is such a sweet girl," she said, "and always so cheerful. She is
going to make some one a mighty good wife," and she smiled knowingly at
Jimmy.

The suggestion which her words implied came to Jimmy as a distinct
shock. He had never thought of Edith Hudson in the light of this
suggestion, and now he wondered if there could be any such sentiment as
it implied in Edith's heart, but finally he put the idea away with a
shrug.

"Impossible," he thought. "She thinks of me as I think of her, only as a
good friend."




CHAPTER XXIV.

IN THE TOILS.

At the office of the International Machine Company the work of the
C.P.A.'s was drawing to a close. Their report would soon be ready to