"I am sorry to annoy the passengers, but the nurse has been taken so ill she cannot hold her head up, and as the boy cries to go to her I was obliged to bring him in here. He never saw me until last night. I was on a cruise when his poor mother died." Once more he essayed to whistle, and swayed to and fro with a rocking motion, but finally desperate, he turned to a young man in a neighboring chair, who was smiling over a cartoon in "Puck." "Sir, would you do me the great kindness to hold him just a moment, while I get something from his nurse?" "All right, I will try; but I happen to be a bachelor, and I never held a baby in my life. Come on, little man. Some day you surely will make a star screamer in opera. Now for it, sonny." He held out his arms, but, as the father attempted to transfer the boy, the sight of another strange face increased his terror; the little hands grasped the officer's beard, and the baby shrieked in protest. Eglah rose and crossed the car. "He is accustomed to women; perhaps I can quiet him. Will you allow me to try?" "O, thank you, madam!" She took one little hand, caressed it, toyed with the fingers, and cooed as only women can. After a moment the child ceased crying, and when very gently she took it and laid it up against her shoulder the little creature nestled close to her. His suspicion, however, was not entirely allayed. Suddenly he lifted his head, stared curiously into her face, and when she laid her cheek on his, wet with tears, he seemed reassured and clung to her, his lips touching her throat. The young man leaned over and whispered to a friend in the chair before him. "He shows good taste in picking his nurse. Is not she a beauty? I have been watching that handsome couple, and things are not serene in their camp. I was near him in the smoker, and his face looked like a brownstone statue with live wild-cat eyes." Eglah walked slowly up and down the aisle, humming low and very softly Kuecken's "Schlummerlied." Now and then the child sobbed faintly. The officer came back with a bottle of milk, but, as he hurried forward, Eglah shook her head. After a little while the exhausted baby slept soundly. "Madam, I cannot thank you sufficiently for your goodness. I will relieve you now, and I trust the passengers will excuse the annoyance." "Let me keep him a while; he still sobs now and then, and if moved might wake. A good nap will quiet his nerves." "It is too great a tax on you, madam." "When I am tired, I shall bring him to you." "In a half hour we get home, and since you are so very kind, I will help the nurse arrange luggage for our station." Eglah went back to her own chair, and holding the little creature with her right arm softly patted him with her left hand. At every motion the wedding ring flashed like a dancing demon in Mr. Herriott's watching eyes. "Poor little chap. Did you mesmerize him?"