“You see, Mrs. Acton--I’ve been struck ever since we sailed by the courage you showed in crossing the world like this, at the word from a stranger----” “Stranger,” she repeated. “I wanted you to take me up on that, but the fact is, you came at my word.” “’Twas not much I had to leave----” “I liked it better than the hotel.” “Do you know, Mr. Bellair, I never gave up the hope of travel--a bit of travel before I passed? But I thought it would be alone from Davy----” Her eyes glistened. Bellair was wondering if there were others in that tenement-house who had kept a hope. “You know,” he said, “when I decided to ask you to come--because I was far from finished with our lad--I anticipated that it would be somewhat of a struggle. I saw how hard it was for you at first--the night we told you about his loss of a place----” “We were on the edge so long--the least bump ready to push us over,” she murmured. “I made a little arrangement with the express company to furnish you with a return ticket--you and Davy, or cheques to secure them, and enough beside to get you back to New York at any time----” Her eyes widened. She turned to her boy to see if he were in this great business. Wonders had not ceased for him, since the first evening at the hotel. Davy was intent upon her now, even more than upon his friend. “So I had it all fixed in your name. There’s an agency in Auckland--one in every city--so you can’t go broke. And no one can cash these things but you--after you call and register your signature. You’ll find enough and to spare for your passage (though I hope you won’t use it for many a year), and expenses for you and the boy----” There were tears in her eyes. Bellair poured her wineglass full in the excitement. “You didn’t need to do anything like that----” “That’s a point I am particularly proud of,” he answered. “I’ll put this away for you,” she said, taking the proffered envelope. The face of dusty wax-work sped past his inner eyes. “It’s all one,” she added. “It’s easy for me to say this, having nothing but what you give me. Did you hear of the house where every one put what they had in a basket hanging from the ceiling?” “No,” he said. “’Twas mainly empty. The poor are great-hearted, and those who have nothing.... This, I’ll put in no basket, but the bank, and you’ll have it when you get through giving away the rest. I’ll trust in the Lord, sure, to take me home----” “I haven’t been very successful in giving away much,” he said. “That’s our problem down here among the Islands. Davy is to grow up and help me. You are to help us. There is another to help us.” Mrs. Acton finished her glass. “Is it as much as that, then?” Davy was regarding her with fine pride in his eyes. Bellair sent him to the cabin for a book that would be hard to find, and turned to the boy’s mother: