“Thank you, Uncle August, for assuring me of Gladys’ affection; but I want her respect as well,” he said, with a slight quiver in his tone. August Huntress started at that reply, for it betrayed a great deal. It told him that the devotion and affection which he had manifested for Gladys from the first had now grown into a strong, deep passion, which would either make or mar his whole future, and he was strangely moved by this discovery. How would it be with Gladys if she should discover it? Would her heart respond to this wealth of love? Would she ever be willing to link her fate with his? She was far in advance of Geoffrey, mentally, but he was making such rapid and resolute strides after her, that, at the rate he had been gaining on her of late it could not be very long before he would reach the plane on which she was standing, even if he did not distance her altogether. Well, well, it would be a romantic ending to the story of their lives, he thought, if these two, so strangely thrown upon his care—with so much of mystery surrounding their birth and parentage, and likely always to envelope them—should some day unite their fates and wed each other. But he allowed nothing of all this musing to appear; he simply said, with his accustomed kindness and genial smile: “You are worthily ambitious, Geoff, but I don’t know how you will stand it to apply yourself so closely all summer and then go right on in the fall. I cannot allow you to sacrifice your health to your love for study.” “But I am well and strong as a giant; will you let me try, sir?” he pleaded, earnestly. “Yes, indeed, with all my heart. It is a pleasure to give you advantages when you improve them so eagerly. I will make it an object to Mr. Rivers to remain with you during the vacation, and then we can decide later where you will go in the fall.” “Thank you, Uncle August, you are like a dear father to me, and I could not love you better if you really were. I hope some day to prove, in some tangible way, how grateful I am for your goodness,” Geoffrey said, with deep feeling. “Tut, tut, my boy, don’t burden yourself with any sense of obligation. I am getting my pay as I go along, in the enjoyment I get out of having a fine, manly fellow like yourself in the house. I don’t believe I could be prouder of my own son than I am of you, and, taking us all in all, I imagine there isn’t a happier family in all Brooklyn than the one residing at No. —— Clinton avenue. Eh, Geoff?” CHAPTER VII. GEOFFREY ENTERS COLLEGE. August Huntress and his gentle wife, Alice, deserved to be happy, for they had devoted the best of their lives to the work of rearing the two children who had been so strangely thrown upon their care.