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122 and smoothed by innumerable hands. Garth flung his arms impulsively about her as she bent toward him, and hugged her as he would have hugged Jim or Elspeth. Old Mrs. Bassett, who had no son to follow the sea, held him very tightly, with a comprehension of his own longing never to be fulfilled.

Dearest Brob:

I'm glad that you are not bored with hearing so much about Joan (I have followed Garth's early example and dropped the surname). Her week slipped away some time ago, and now she is staying on as a "paying guest." Government provisions are not involved, and Jim's Record is undisturbed. I asked her to stay at first because I was sorry for the poor soul,—homeless for the moment, and so worried,—but now we want her to be here because she's nice and fits in with everything we do quite as though she were one of us. She's really a dear, and a different person than she was at first. Garth is devoted to her, and she is with him all day long.

I hate to think of your adding "slumming" to your already busy days. You ought to ride, or something, after a hard morning's work, instead of poking through tenements. But you know I'm sympathetic. How I wish that your poor little pale kiddies could