The San Francisco call., 1913-11-17
Now Read On

women III they find me out | may be
discharged"
"Oh. cheer up" he said. pleasantly.
don't suppose you'll find it very
hard
Her voice sank almost to whis-
per.
1t is not the work I dread, but the
surroundings. / was a school teacher
before my marriage. My husband was
an electrical engineer. We put ali our
savings into a little business, and
then-the end came
Not quite the end. l am only a
boy, but I've had ups and downs
enough TO know that the beginning
of next week may be a very different
affair TO the end of this Goodby."
They were passing the London hos
pital. and he thought ii prudent to
alight at some distance from John
sons News
Well. God bless you, anyhow" she
said. earnestly.
E's got is cad screwed on tight.
that lad" commented a man sitting
next to her
Better than that, he has a good
heart, said Mrs Wrigley. Most for
tunate Mrs Wrigley-to have encoun-
tered Philip in that hour. which she
deemed the blackest of her life
HIS MOTHER
He fastened through the familiar
hustle of the busy thoroughfare with
heightened expectancy 1t is true, but
devoid of the least fear that his me-
teor had been discovered. His mother
would take good care of it. Why, the
mere chance remark of the woman he
had befrtended showed that her gentle
spirit watched over him wherever he
Went Here was a stranger, a sad
toiler among the millions, who went
out of her way to praise the goodness
OF one she had never seen. He
laughed Joyously. Mrs Wriglev
should have further cause to bless his
mothers memory.
He passed O'Brien's shop. He saw
the old man seated behind the counter.
Should he go in? No. Better keen
wholly TO himself at present Yet he
hesitated. Which was the more ju-
dicious course-to remain hidden, un-
known, or to drop quietly into the
groove where he was recognized? :?
With rare perspicacity for one so
young, he reflected that only five
days had elapsed since he last saw
the old pensoner. The period bulked
largely in Philips life; in O'Brien's
it would be as naught.
Yielding to the second thought, he
entered the shop.
GLORY be to God, Phil, but it's
miself is glad to see ye" cried his
old friend. Where have We bin to.
at all, at all? Have yez heard what
the murtherin' war Office is afther
doing to me? I haven't had a sowl to
shpake to about the throubIe they've
put on me in me ovid age"
This was not strictly accurate
OBrien had pestered the whole
neighborhood with the story of his
withheld pension and the preposterous
claim made on him by some red tape
enthusiast in Pail Mall But his
plant effectually stopped all further
reference to Philips disappearance
AS to the bit of shtone." that was
"naythur alum nor lime" he hadn't
word to say.
Philip borrowed spade, a small
sweeping brush and a strong sack
without evoking the slightest COM
ment from the pensioner who dis
coursed necessarily on the iniquity
of the 'governmint," and whose fare
well remark dealt with the attempt
TO rob him of "A hundred gowldon
sovrins"
Decidedly the boy was in luck's
way. He had secured some necessary
implements without attracting any
attention Watching a favorable op-
portunity, he slipped unseen into the
gloom of Johnson's News He tried
the door of No. 3. 1t was locked. He
inserted the key and entered. The
darkness within was that of utter
blindness. but he dumped his impedi-
ments on the floor and locked the
door behind him.
Then he groped his doubtful path to
the manteipiece, where he had left a
candle and box of matches. His
boots crunched as he went, on what
he knew to be mostly diamonds, and
he stumbled over the mattress in front
of the fireplace. Yes, the candle was
there. Soon he had a light. The tiny
CLEAN lifted the black curtain and he
surveyed his domain. A single glance
showed that all things remained ex-
actly as ne left them on Saturday
morning. The packet of letters rested
on the broken chair, the old sack was
stuffed into the window, and the rope
that never to be forgotten rope
dangled from the hook to which he
had fastened it.
The sight brought lump into his
throat. He sank TO his knees, pressed
down, he felt, by some superior power.
"Mother! he said, humbly, forgive
me. and ask God to forgive me, for
what / would have done were you not
In the spiritual exaltation of the
moment he almost expected to find
that sweet face peering at him be-
nignantly from out of the dim back
ground. But he could not see her. and
he rose, revivified by this spoken COM
munion with her. He had no shadow
of doubt as to her presence. God to
him was the universe, and his mother
the unquestionable means of commu-
nication with the providence that gov
erned his life. He would die rather
than abandon that belief Were Ii
dispelled from his mind he was quite
certain that his wealth would vanish
with It, 1t was no haphazard accident
which had sent the diamond laden
meteor headlong from the sky. He
was despairing, dying; his mother ap-
pealed for him, and behold the very
elements that control the world
obeyed mighty behest