"Any over-exertion, excitement, worry--anything--may end it at any time. If he would give up and stay quietly at home, he might last a good while. But that’s what he won’t do. He knows it all--took it as coolly as if it were nothing at all, but won’t give up. And he won’t have anybody told. Says they ’d never know another happy moment--and that’s true enough. He ’ll just take his chances. It’s brave of him, and I can understand how he feels, but the hard thing for me is--I ’ve got to keep still, and stand by, and--see it come." With the last word Peter’s voice almost broke. He turned his head away. Shirley got up and went to him. She laid one hand on his shoulder, standing still beside him, her heart aching with sympathy, but finding not a word to say. In all his unhappiness, Peter recognised the light touch, and putting up his cold hand grasped the warm one. He held it tight for a minute, for the sense of comradeship and comprehension it brought him gave him courage to go on. Shirley understood the warm and close relations which had always existed between Peter and his father. And she realised, with a pang, that which Peter had not mentioned, but which must add its share to the poignancy of his apprehension--the fact that with the loss of the head of the family, the burden of the support of that family must fall upon the son’s shoulders. Money problems were not to be mentioned in the same breath with the threatened loss of a dear parent, but the anxiety they were bound to cause would make Peter’s trouble immeasurably more serious. When Peter spoke his voice was steady again. "Of course I ’m facing nothing harder than other people have to face every day, in one way or another. I mean to stand up to it, like a man, if I can--it would n’t be worthy of a chap with a father like mine to be bowled over by what he bears with such courage. But it seemed to me I must tell somebody, and you--something you said weeks ago, when we went riding together, made me sure you would care." "I do care, very, very much," Shirley answered. "I ’ve wished ever so many times since then that I knew what was the matter. If you had told me that, it would have been easier for you to come to me with this, I think. I ’m so glad you did. I only wish--oh, how I wish--there were something I could do!" "You can. You ’re doing it now. Just knowing you know makes it easier. If there were anything I could do myself I could bear it better." She slipped out of the room. In a few minutes she came back, bearing a tray, upon which was a cup of chocolate with a little mound of whipped cream on top, and beside it a plate of sandwiches. She set her tray at Peter’s elbow. "Father is so fond of this, late in the evening, that Cook keeps a double boiler ready on the back of the range, and the rest of us make use of it," she explained. "You may not be hungry, but it will be good for you. Tell me, did you have your supper?"