though seeing his father in a light that had never shone over him before.
"Are you surprised?" the man asked. "Did you think I'd leave you in a trap like that and not come to your aid? We must have gone far off the road, Bert, to have come to such a pass."
"I was the one who got off the road," the boy protested miserably. "It was all my fault. I should have gone to you. . . ."
"It was both our faults. We saw things from different angles. I probably expected too much from you; you didn't have the courage' to expect enough from me, and I couldn't have given it to you, probably, because I didn't understand. To-morrow, the next day, every day, I want you to know that you can always come to me if you need help or advice."
"And if I begin to make a fool of myself," Bert choked, "you just grab me and put me right."
"I'll try to," said Mr. Quinby. "With Clud out of the way, how do you stand? Any other debts?"
"Oh!" Bert had forgotten, and dismay seized him. "We signed a year's lease on the store and it had six more months to run."
"At how much a month?"
"Twenty-two dollars and a half."
"That makes $135." The man winced a bit and then, remembering, caught himself. "We'll charge it up to experience. I've learned some-
