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 and starting towards the hall. "Ah, here you are, Mr. Truant," she laughed, as the door at that moment opened. "Come and meet an old friend!"

"An ever friend," he corrected, advancing toward Watson with extended hand.

The latter grasped it with a true Texan grip but his expression of sympathy gave place to one of amazement as he looked into that pure face. No marks of resentment or disease there, only an expression of absolute self-forgetfulness and charity for the weaknesses of others.

Watson's vindictive feelings toward Mills faded away. Such were out of place here and his customary "doggone it" escaped without his knowing exactly why.

The bright morning sunlight streamed into the room as if to accentuate the happy faces around the breakfast-table. Watson, to all but Margaret, seemed to have simply dropped into his place. Her feelings were beyond analysis but she confidentially whispered to Reuben as she returned to the kitchen to