"I want Peter to know," Murray replied, without hesitation. "We ’re going to try to keep this thing out of the papers, of course, and away from our acquaintances as long as we can, but your family must all know. I feel, somehow, as if having the Bell family stand by us would be worth a lot." When Peter came out, in fresh clothes, his brown hair damp from the splashing shower he had just taken, and joined the two others under the maple, he was told the whole story. He listened in clear-eyed gravity, with once or twice a short exclamation of regret. As Murray ended with Jane’s suggestion about the runaway’s possible enlistment in the army, Peter drew a long breath. "I believe I can understand how he felt about it," he said, throwing his head back and staring up at the sky for a moment. Then, coming back to earth with a squaring of his broad shoulders, he added, with a rueful smile at Jane, "And that’s not because my home is n’t the happiest one on earth. It ’s just the feeling a fellow gets once in a while that he ’d like to jump over something and make a dash for the horizon line--to see what’s beyond it! And I can see how he----" Then he broke off suddenly, looking at Murray. "That does n’t mean I don’t appreciate what this is to all his family. And if there’s anything I can do to help, I ’m your man." "You ’d be a good one to send after him," Murray answered, with a slight smile. "You ’d know better than to pounce on him like an officer of the law. You ’d treat him like a brother--a better brother than I ’ve been,"--and the smile faded. "Look here, don’t take it that way. There are few brothers I know who stand shoulder to shoulder as they ought to do. It’s odd, but it’s so, and a pity it is, too. I think our family is different from most--for the reason----" Here Peter stopped abruptly once more, meeting Jane’s eyes. He could not say that early training, given by wise parents, had made all the difference in the world with their family life. "Yes, I fancy I know the reason," said Murray, wistfully, "and I congratulate you on it." "I ’m a stupid sort of Job’s comforter," Peter went on. "But one thing is sure; if you ’d like an extra brother, to stand by in this difficulty, here he is." He laid his hand on Murray’s arm as he spoke, and Murray flushed with pleasure. He turned and held out his own hand, and Peter’s closed on it with a grip. Then both began to talk with a will about other things. When Murray went home he took Mrs. Bell with him. He watched her vanish through the doorway of his mother’s room, where that poor lady had been all day in a state of nervous prostration, and felt that he had brought her a friend worth while.