"I knew you were here."
"So? Then Ma is awake again?"
Allie shook her head vaguely. "I knew you were here the minute I came in. I can "most always tell." There had been a shadow of a smile upon her lips, but it vanished; a look of growing concern crept over her face. "What"s the matter? Whatever has happened, Mr. Gray?"
"Why, nothing. I was feeling tired, worn out. Indulging myself in a thoroughly enjoyable fit of the blues." His voice broke when he tried to laugh.
Allie uttered a quick, low cry, a wordless, sympathetic sound. Her dark eyes widened, grew darker; she came forward a step or two, then she halted. "Would you rather be alone?" she asked. He signified his dissent, and she went on: "I know what the blues are like. I sit alone in the dark a good deal."
She busied herself about the room for a few moments, straightening things, adjusting the window shades. Allie had the knack of silence, blessed attribute in man or woman, and to Gray"s surprise he found that her mere presence was comforting. She startled him by saying, suddenly:
"You"re hurt! Hurt badly!"
He looked up at her with an instinctive denial upon his lips, but, realizing the futility of deceit, he nodded. "Yes, Allie."
The girl drew a deep breath, her strong hands closed, harshly she said: "I could kill anybody that hurt you. I wanted to kill Buddy that time.
Is it those Nelsons? Have they got you down?" There was something fierce and masterful in Allie"s concern, and her inquiry carried with it even more than a proffer of help; she had, in fact, flung herself into a protective att.i.tude. She suggested nothing so much as a lioness roused.
"No, no! It is nothing like that. I merely fooled myself--had a dream.
You wouldn"t understand, my dear."
Allie studied him soberly for a moment. "Oh yes, I would! I do! I understand perfectly. n.o.body _could_ understand as well as I do."
"What do you mean by that?"
"I"ve been hurt, too." She laid a hand upon her breast. "That"s why I sit in the dark."
"My dear child! I"m sorry. Gus said you were unhappy, but I thought it was merely--the new life. You"re young; you can forget. It"s only us old ones who can"t forget. Sometime you must tell me all about it." The girl smiled faintly, but he nodded, positively: "Oh, it"s a relief to tell somebody! I feel better already for confiding in Ma. Yes, and your sympathy is mighty soothing, too. It seems almost as if I had come home." He closed his eyes and laid his head back.
Allie placed her hand upon his forehead and held it there for a moment before she moved away. It was a cool and tranquilizing palm and he wished she would hold it there for a long time, so that he could sleep, forget--
Allie Briskow went to her room, and there she studied her reflection in the mirror carefully, deliberately, before saying: "You can do it.
You"ve _got_ to do it, for he"s hurt. When a girl is hurt like that, it makes a woman of her, but when a man"s hurt it makes him a little boy.
I--I guess it pays to keep on praying."
It was perhaps a half hour later that Ma Briskow heard a sound that caused her to rise upon her elbow and listen with astonishment. It was the sound of low, indistinct, but joyous singing; it came from Allie"s room. Allie singing again! What could have happened? Slowly Ma"s face became wistful, eager. "Oh, Mister Fairy King!" she whispered. "Please build up his castle again. You can do it. There"s magic in the world.
Make him a duke again, an" her a queen, for yours is the power an" the glory for ever an" ever. Amen!"
THE END