Page:Barbour--Peggy in the rain.djvu/265

 time in the early morning he arose, switched on the lights and, seating himself at the desk, wrote a letter to his mother. He spent the better part of a half-hour at it, and when it was finished he addressed it very deliberately and stamped it and laid it on the table by the door. Then he went to the open window and leaned out. In the east there was a dim radiance that foretold the dawn. The lights along the boulevard shone blurred through a gentle rain. He held his hands out, and when they were wet laved his forehead with the moisture.

He stood there many minutes with his thoughts. At last he raised his face toward the dark sky and smiled.

"I guess you'll understand, Dad," he murmured.

A drop of rain fell on his lips, and he laughed softly.

"Was that a kiss from you, dear?" he whispered. "Was it, Peggy, my Peggy-in-the-Rain?"