greeted him was "Fav-ver!"




CHAPTER VII

AS A FOUNTAIN IN THE DESERT


The magic that is in the touch of a little boy! There is nothing
like it to drive out the weariness from a heart that knows it
must not grow too tired. So now, when Dr. Redfield left the house
where he had been, it meant much to him that there should be such
a welcome awaiting him at the gate. It was a gray and worn smile,
but still a smile that answered the child's unexpected greeting,
and as the wee arms went tight about the man's neck he asked no
questions; he merely said:--

"I wish I were, little boy--I wish I were your father. We would
have a rest, wouldn't we? We would take time to know each
other."

As he said this there came into the Doctor's face the same look
which he had just seen in the eyes of the father and mother who
were trusting to him to save their little boy. Many times other
fathers and other mothers had made that mute appeal to him, and
he had done what he could for them. He had done all that could be
done. He was doing it to-day, and he had been doing it every day
these past eight weeks that had been as twenty years to him.