Yet it was through this inert medium alone that Miss Arsdale could pay the debt to the father who had been so good to her; and it was only through this same unsightly shell that he, Donaldson, could in his turn repay his debt for the dreams she had quickened in him. He stepped to the telephone to tell her what he could of that which he had found and done. The mere sound of her voice as it came over the wire brightened the room like a flood of light. The joy in it as she listened to what he had accomplished was payment enough for all he had sacrificed. He told her that the doctor had advised keeping the boy in for at least another day. "Oh, but you are good!" she exclaimed. "And you will not leave him--you will guard him against running off again?" "I shall stay here at his side until it is absolutely safe to go." "If I could only come down!" "But you must n't. You must stay where you are and do as you 're told." "It will be only for to-day and to-night, won't it?" "Probably that is all." "That is n't very long." "Not as time goes." "But it will seem long." "Will it--to you?" He regretted the question the moment it had been uttered. But it came to his lips unbidden. "Of course," she answered. "It will seem very long to me," he returned slowly. "Almost a lifetime." "Perhaps you will telephone now and then." "Very often, if I may." "The nurse says she 'll not allow me to answer the telephone after nine at night." "Nine to-night is a long way off yet." "It's only half a day." "But that's twelve hours!" "Do you think that long?" "Yes. That seems a very long while to me." "It is soon gone." "Too soon." "Then comes the night and then the morning and then you 'll bring him home." "Then I 'll bring him home." What a new meaning that word home had when it fell from her lips. What a new meaning everything had. She turned aside to address some one in the room and then her voice came in complaint. "The nurse is here with my medicine." "Then close your eyes and swallow it quickly. I 'll telephone you later and inquire how it tasted." "Thank you. Good bye." "Good bye." He hung up the receiver and settled down to the grim task of counting the passing minutes which were draining his life as though each minute were a drop of blood let from an artery. And all the company he had for it was this poor devil on the bed who grimaced as he breathed. He folded his arms. If this, too, was a part of the cost he must pay it like a man. CHAPTER XVI _The Fourth Day_ The morning of Tuesday, May twenty-eighth, found Donaldson still sitting in the chair, facing the form upon the bed. He had not undressed, and had slept less than an hour. He was now waiting for eight o'clock, when he had received permission from the nurse to ring up Miss Arsdale again.