"What—can I give you, Jerry-Jo?"

The old, pleading look was in the dark eyes, but low passion had vanished forever.

"Could you—would you give me a kiss for the secret?"

"Yes, Jerry-Jo," and the kiss fell upon the white brow.

Could John Boswell have been there then he would have understood.

"You—you are crying! I feel a tear with the kiss!"

The quivering, broken smile smote Priscilla to the heart. The ward was deathly quiet; only the deep breathing of men closer to life than Jerry-Jo McAlpin broke the stillness.

"Why—do you cry?"

"You know, it's a bad habit of mine, Jerry-Jo."

"Yes. You—you cried on his book, you remember?"