Page 406 of 416

"Shop-worn?" he said after a while. "Well, so am I, a trifle, but

not in the way you mean. If having the down knocked off one and

seeing things truer and better for it is being shop-worn, then

thank God for the wearing.

"It has been a roundabout way for us, little girl, but at last

our paths have met, and from now on, God willing, they shall go

together. Come, I want to show you something."

They walked through the woods until they found the place where

the surveyors had laid out the foundation plan for the little

house. There they found an interested couple gravely discussing a

near-by excavation with the aid of a blue-print.

Presently the couple turned around, and the lovers clutched each

other in amazement.

"Bless me," gasped Code, "if it isn't ma and Pete Ellinwood!"

THE END

JOHN FOX, JR'S.

STORIES OF THE KENTUCKY MOUNTAINS

May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap's

list.

THE TRAIL OF THE LONESOME PINE.

Illustrated by F. C. Yohn.