spend, Aleck? Make it liberal--do, dear, that's a good fellow." Aleck was pleased; so pleased that she yielded to the pressure and conceded a sum which her judg- ment told her was a foolish extravagance--a thousand dollars. Sally kissed her half a dozen times and even in that way could not express all his joy and thank- fulness. This new access of gratitude and affection carried Aleck quite beyond the bounds of prudence, and before she could restrain herself she had made her darling another grant--a couple of thousand out of the fifty or sixty which she meant to clear within a year out of the twenty which still remained of the bequest. The happy tears sprang to Sally's eyes, and he said: "Oh, I want to hug you!" And he did it. Then he got his notes and sat down and began to check off, for first purchase, the luxuries which he should earliest wish to secure. "Horse--buggy--cutter-- lap-robe--patent-leathers--dog--plug-hat--church- pew--stem-winder--new teeth--say, Aleck!" "Well?" "Ciphering away, aren't you? That's right. Have you got the twenty thousand invested yet?" "No, there's no hurry about that; I must look around first, and think." "But you are ciphering; what's it about?" "Why, I have to find work for the thirty thousand that comes out of the coal, haven't I?" " Scott, what a head! I never thought of that. How are you getting along? Where have you ar- rived?" -9- |