Flip's Islands of Providence""

imes the little group lingered there until nearly sundown, between the laburnum bushes and hollyhocks of the old garden, but to-day, Alec's impatient whistle from a

ushed up the stairs to her brother's room. The bureau drawer

suit, and Mack has gone down-town after the shoes that I left to be half-soled. I'll have to rush, for

, and sitting down on the floor beside the window began to sew on buttons as fast as she asked questions. She always had pl

apped in a newspaper, and he's so busy reading something on it that he doesn't know where he is go

airs still spelling out the p

ed in New York. The detectives traced them by a letter one of them left here in Ridgeville at the hotel. Thi

off the shoes and glanced at the date. Then he dropped it on the bed and began to fumble for something in the bottom of his trunk, saying, carelessly, "Oh, green goods men are just fellows who rope people in t

e voice, after his second reading, "do you remember the night of the fire I was to meet a man

ppa n

ted such a thing then. He was the smoothest talker I ever saw, and was as gentlemanly and well dressed as the minister. And such a way as he had! He could almost make a body believe that black was w

ld you what his business was!" Philippa exclaimed,

m here that I would have accepted his offer with very few questions. Don't you see, my very ignorance of his schemes would have made me a better decoy in some cases than if I had not been such an

him now. But the fire stopped you. And if it hadn't been for the fire, Uncle Dick never would have been aroused to the necessity of leav

lways singing about. I'll make a map of them some day and name each one: 'Fire Island,' 'Isle of Uncle D

ped, as Macklin came clat

y overcrowded cities. Eager and hopeful, his ambition placed no limit to the success he meant to achieve. That he might fall short of the goal he set for himself never once entered his thoughts. He knew the condition

and ended it as the benefactors of mankind. And he felt that he had a distinct advantage over Franklin and some of his ilk, for he faced his future with far more than

never seen a trolley-car before, he had carefully studied the power that propels one. The whir and clang, the rush of automobiles, the pounding of machinery in the great factory all seemed familiar, because they

lenishing his wardrobe after the fire, and defraying his travelling expenses, he took a room in a lodging-house, and his me

n't like the work in the factory, but he liked the manager, and with the determination to make his apprenticeship as short as po

vercoat and with his hat on. His chilly little bedroom, with its dim lamp and worn matting, was a dismal contrast to the cheerful home where he had always spent his winter evenings. Then she noticed that there was n

wrote to

ge to know only the factory fellows, when at home I was acquainted with everybody. The manager, Mr. Windom, has a pretty daughter whom I'd give a good deal to know. She drives down to th

o a question from M

suppose they think that a gawky country boy doesn't belong in such a fashionable congregation. The minister doesn't come down after service to shake hands with people, as Doctor Meldrum does at home. They have a Christian Endeavour Society that I t

is supper, or some of the boys that worked where he did came round for him to go out with them. He had been to the library several times, and to a free band-c

unice, he thought. Probably she wouldn't think it was any harm if she lived in the city. People in little plac

f his holiday and skate all the afternoon. He was glad that he had brought his skat

again at night when the ice was illuminated by bonfires and lanterns. There was a danger-signal posted farther down where the ice was thin. He had avoided it all the afternoon, but intent on cutting some fancy

it. All the covering he could pile on the bed did not stop the chattering of his teeth as he lay shivering between the cold s

stupor. It was not quite clear to him who brought a doctor, but one came in the course of the morning and left two kinds of little pellets

d no watch, but the engine-house bell in

nd start up, fearing that he had let the time go by, or that he had taken a double dose, or that he had confused directions. Was it two p

rish, aching eyes, that suddenly filled with hot tears. If he could only be back in his own room at home, with Aunt Eunice to care for him

lattered down the hall, whistling. The night seemed endless. Hour after hour he started up shuddering, as the bell's loud clang awakened him, not knowing what it was that startled him. In his feverish halluci

c delirious and the medicine still on the chair beside the bed. With one glan

in it. The clothing he had left on the floor in a heap had been put away. The window shade no longer hung askew. He looked round half-expecting to see his Aunt Eunice or F

One of the boys had pointed him out as an old soldier who had taken to nursing when he could no longer fight. He held no diploma from any training-school for nurses, he was

eg would allow. He bent over him, felt his pulse, and then said, cheerfully, "All right, buddy, guess it's time now f

ld have been double pneumonia. But you're about out of the woods now. We'll soon have you on your feet." Giving his patient

trail teasingly across his mind for a moment, a dim wonder as to where the money was to come from to pay for the expensive lux

where His

nded palm

now I ca

beyond-

them. "Never mind," he thought, drowsily; "I've got as far as

stopping-place old

it was not long before he had Alec sitting up for a little while each day. With such an old philosopher to keep him company, and entertai

t a difference knowing persons makes in the way you feel toward them. The minister was as cordial and friendly as Doctor Meldrum u

bodies are sick, but when they are out of sorts either physically or mentally they never think of letting their minister know. They hang back and feel hurt if he doesn

a knock at the door. Old Jimmy, answering it, came back with a florist's box addressed, "Mr. Alec Stoker, with best

ent them to me?" he cried. There was no Endeavour socie

plained Jimmy. "Posies and piety always sorter go together, seems like. Pretty,

asped Alec, looki

. But one of them you ought to know, buddy, seeing as it's the daughter

to Flip about; the one whom he had wanted of all others to know; and she ha

d. He leaned eagerly nearer the window as she fluttered along, farther and farther down the street, until she was lost in the crowd. Then he lay back in the chair with a sigh. It seemed so long since he had lived in a world where there

st like her. So her name is Avery. I might have known it would be different from other girls'. Avery! Avery!" he repeated softly, while old Jimmy s

ming in with the pitcher. He placed the roses in it

d not escape old Jimmy. "I've got to get well in a hurry now, and go back to wo