"So, there you have it, young man. Why I should bother you with my troubles I don't quite understand myself. In a hospital it's like shipboard; we know a man a short while, and isolated from the rest of the world, we are drawn closer than with the acquaintances of years. In my case it's just the tragedy of age. There is no man so important but that a business goes on very well without him. I realized it with young Gresham, even before I was hurt in the factory. They had taken practically all I had to give, and it was time to cast me aside. As a sort of charity, Gresham has sent me four weeks' salary, with a letter saying that he can do no more, and has appointed a young electrical engineer, from his own class in Yale, to take my place. They need an active man, not an invalid. My salary has been used up for expenses, and for the living of my two daughters, Mary and Lorna. What I'll do when I get back home, I don't know." He shook his head, striving to conceal the despondency which was tugging at his heart. Burke was cheery as he responded. "Well, Mr. Barton, you're not out of date yet. The world of electricity is getting bigger every day. You say that you have made many patents which were given to the Gresham company because you were their employee. Now, you can turn out a few more with your own name on them, and get the profits yourself. That's not so bad. I'll be out of here myself, before long, and I'll stir myself, to see that you get a chance. I can perhaps help in some way, even if I'm only a policeman." The older man looked at him with a comical surprise. "A policeman? A cop? Well, well, well! I wouldn't have known it!" Bobbie Burke laughed, and he had a merry laugh that did one's soul good to hear. "We're just human beings, you know--even if the ministers and the muckrakers do accuse us of being blood brothers to the devil and Ali Baba." "I never saw a policeman out of uniform before--that's why it seems funny, I suppose. But I wouldn't judge you to be the type which I usually see in the police. How long have you been in the service?" Here was Bobby's cue for autobiography, and he realized that, as a matter of neighborliness, he must go as far as his friend.