The Coming of Bill

'You bet it will. And she won't be the only one, at that.'

'Will mother be surprised?'

'She sure will.'

'And pop?'

'You bet!'

William Bannister chuckled delightedly.

'Ready?' said Steve.

'Yes.'

'Now listen. We've got to get out of this joint as quiet as mice. It

would spoil the surprise if they was to hear us and come out and ask

what we were doing. Get that?'

'Yes.'

'Well, see how quiet you can make it. You don't want even to breathe

more than you can help.'

       *       *       *       *       *

They left the room and crept down the dark stairs. In the hall Steve

lit a match and switched on the electric light. He unbolted the door

and peered out into the avenue. Close by, under the trees, stood an

automobile, its headlights staring into the night.

'Quick!' cried Steve.

He picked up the White Hope, closed the door, and ran.

Chapter X Accepting the Gifts of the Gods

It was fortunate, considering the magnitude of the shock which she was

to receive, that circumstances had given Steve's Mamie unusual powers

of resistance in the matter of shocks. For years before her

introduction into the home of the Winfield family her life had been one

long series of crises. She had never known what the morrow might bring

forth, though experience had convinced her that it was pretty certain

to bring forth something agitating which would call for all her

well-known ability to handle disaster.

The sole care of three small brothers and a weak-minded father gives a

girl exceptional opportunities of cultivating poise under difficult

conditions. It had become second nature with Mamie to keep her head

though the heavens fell.

Consequently, when she entered the nursery next morning and found it

empty, she did not go into hysterics. She did not even scream. She read

Steve's note twice very carefully, then sat down to think what was her

best plan of action.

Her ingrained habit of looking on the bright side of things, the result

of a life which, had pessimism been allowed to rule it, might have

ended prematurely with what the papers are fond of calling a 'rash

act,' led her to consider first those points in the situation which she

labelled in her meditations as 'bits of luck.'

It was a bit of luck that Mrs. Porter happened to be away for the

moment. It gave her time for reflection. It was another bit of luck

that, as she had learned from Keggs, whom she met on the stairs on her

way to the nursery, a mysterious telephone-call had caused Ruth to rise

from her bed some three hours before her usual time and depart

hurriedly in a cab. This also helped.

Keggs had no information to give as to Ruth's destination or the