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 finished; "that boy you've got with you mustn't be left alone. Perhaps he's not so sick as you think. I hope he's been asleep while we've been puttin' you through such a long catechism. Let's all hurry, to make up for it. Obed, don't you rattle that gate; an' do you take off your boots before you get to the kitchen door. Thanky, Mr. Touchtone, let them things lay just where they be; there's nobody to steal 'em, you know. Come along, quick, both of you."

Leaving Obed to deprive his feet of their squeaky new coverings, Philip and Mrs. Probasco stepped lightly toward the kitchen and on tiptoe drew near the bedroom door.

Sure enough, Gerald's slumber was profound. The kind-hearted woman followed Touchtone to the bedside in curiosity and pity. She beheld the face of this other of her two uninvited guests with a great stir in her motherly heart and a quick admiration of Gerald's strange and just now singularly pathetic beauty. With a woman's soft fingers she ventured to touch his skin, and with intent ear she listened to the sleeper's breathing.

"He's better than he was, I guess," she said in a hushed voice to Philip. "His skin's