"I haven't quite finished telling you, Freddy. You know I said something to you about the past being dead and all that."
"Yes."
"Well—I was mistaken. Linda and I—"
Whitcomb turned like a flash and dropped back on the camp-stool.
"What?"
"We fixed it up this afternoon for all time."
"What!"
"Yes. It's a trite thing for a fellow to call himself the happiest man on earth, but Linda has given me back everything I had lost. I am as much a new man as if I had been created to-day."
The quiet words thrilled through Whitcomb. He tried to answer and gulped. Tried again, and shook his friend's responsive hand.
"You deserve it," was all he could manage to utter.