"Miss Laura must find that good home right away," he said. "Of course you want to know where you are going." "I hope she'll be the kind that likes boys," Jim said after a thoughtful pause. "Do you think she will?" "Who?" "The woman in that good home. They don't all, you know. Some of 'em think boys are dreadful noisy and bothering, and some think they eat too much. I eat a lot sometimes----" he ended with an anxious frown. The judge found it necessary just then to put his hand over his eyes. He muttered something about the light hurting them, and then Laura came in and told Jim it was bedtime. He said good-night, holding out his small stubby hand. The judge's big one grasped it and held it a moment. "We had a nice talk, didn't we?" Jim said, and with the smile that made his homely little face radiant for a moment, he added, "It sure is nice to talk with a _man_," and he went off wondering what the judge was laughing about. He was not laughing when Laura came downstairs again after tucking up the boy in bed. She so hated to turn out the light and leave him in the dark, but she always did it. Now she told her father what Jim had said about that the first night. The judge made no comment, but after a moment he remarked, "The boy is rather worried about the home you are to find for him. It ought to be settled. Have you any place in view?" "No. To tell the truth, father, I can't bear to have him go away. Would you mind if I keep him here a while longer? You are so much away, and he is company for me, and very little trouble. I shall miss him dreadfully when he goes." "Of course I don't mind," her father said. "Only, Laura, is it fair to keep him here--fair to him, I mean? The longer he stays the harder it will be for him to go to a strange place." "I suppose you are right," Laura admitted with a sigh, "and I must find the home for him at once." "But be sure it is a good place, and with a woman who will 'mother' him," the judge added. "Poor little chap--only nine and lame, and alone in the world. It's hard lines." "It would seem so," his daughter admitted, "and yet, Jim is such a brave honest little fellow, and he has such a gift for making friends, that perhaps he is not so badly handicapped, after all. I shall miss him dreadfully when he leaves us." X SADIE PAGE But the finding of a satisfactory home for the boy proved to be no easy task. At the end of the two weeks Laura was still carrying on the quest. When she told Jim that he was to stay with her another week the look in his eyes brought the tears into hers. For the first time she dared to put her arms about him and hold him close, and Jim stayed there, his head on her shoulder, trying his best to swallow the lump in his throat. When he lifted his head he said in a shaky voice, "G--gee! But I'm glad!"