But Sandy's head was bowed on his clasped hands and the first tears he had shed in years were trickling through his fingers. "You'll come, Sandy Morley?" "Yes, sir." "And--I want to tell you, my boy--that I'm satisfied with my flyer of an investment. Come! Come! You've acted the part of a man before you've been a boy. You and I have earned--a vacation." An hour later Markham tapped at Matilda's door and the prompt, "Come in, Levi," caused him a moment's uneasiness. "Insomnia?" he asked, drawing a chair close to his sister's bed. "Just a little wakefulness, brother. Now don't get fidgetty. I'm real satisfied to lie here and think of my blessedness and comfort. It's gratifying to recall all your possessions in the night. They say worries stand out clearest then, but with me it's the other way. My troubles just vanish and every living, breathing pleasantness comes to the fore. Now, you, for example, Levi. I was praising God about you as you knocked. You're a changed man, brother. You were always a good man, but to be flat-footed I must say that there was a time when conversation with you was like jogging along over a stony road. One got so many bumps that it didn't seem worth while. I used to get terrible lonely at times, for I wouldn't take pleasures and leave you out--it always has seemed to me that you never got the _right_ change for what you spent, and I wanted to do my share in keeping you company if you ever felt the lack. And then that poor little fellow came tumbling into our lives same as if God had sent him rolling down the mountain to our door. If ever there was a blessing in disguise, it was Sandy! I tell you he's a pretty comforting creature to hold to when you lie awake nights. A minute ago I was saying over and over--"thank God for Sandy!" He gets closer to you than you think, Levi--it's his way and he's the strongest, gratefullest fellow. Every time I look at him lately I think of the saying--strength of the hills." And now Levi sought and found the thin, blue-veined hands folded peacefully upon the white coverlid. "Sandy found the starved mother and father in us, Matilda. His need met ours, and God blessed us all." "That's a true word, brother. You and I were real pinched in our aims and longings in the offset. Do you remember how you always wanted learning and college, and how I actually was besotted about traipsing around the world? Such dreams as we managed to make up! I have the old geography now with pin points all up the side of the Alps where you and I counted the height and then said we didn't believe it! Well, you've found success without college, and I've found peace without travel." Levi patted the cool, old hands tenderly. Sandy's story had somehow made Matilda very precious.