Orde sat smoking in the darkness, staring
straight ahead of him into the future. He believed he had found the
opportunity--twenty years distant--for which he had been looking so
long.
XXX
After a time Carroll descended the stairs, chuckling. "Jack," she
called into the sitting-room, "come out on the porch. What do you
suppose the young man did to-night?"
"Give it up," replied Orde promptly. "No good guessing when it's a
question of that youngster's performances. What was it?"
"He said his 'Now I lay me,' and asked blessings on you and me, and
the grandpas and grandmas, and Auntie Kate, as usual. Then he
stopped. 'What else?' I reminded him. 'And,' he finished with a
rush, 'make-Bobby-a-good-boy-and-give-him-plenty-of-bread-'n-butter-
'n-apple-sauce!'"
They laughed delightedly over this, clinging together like two
children. Then they stepped out on the little porch and looked into
the fathomless night. The sky was full of stars, aloof and calm,
but waiting breathless on the edge of action, attending the word of
command or the celestial vision, or whatever it is for which stars
seem to wait. Along the street the dense velvet shade of the maples
threw the sidewalks into impenetrable blackness.
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