“Well, Dad,” he said, putting his arms around his bride, “I didn’t stay away a whole year, but I made good.”
“And now, you want the reward I promised you, huh,” his father grunted.
“Certainly, and I want a double reward now, because there are two of us.”
“Indeed, you young scoundrel. Well, I intend to make Josephine a present of a fine house which I bought next door to us. As for you, I am going to place you under charge of my manager at my steel works, and give you a chance to work your way up to his position.”
“That is fine of you, Father,” he cried in delight; “what do you think of the old bear now, Josephine?”
“He’s a dear,” she countered softly.
“Well, Dad, you sent me out West to make good and I won an angel. Is that picture on the wall one you have had enlarged of yourself lately?”
The gruff fellow turned his head to look, and there was a sound suspiciously like a kiss. When he glanced at them again they were listening to the cowboys making merry in the banquet hall.
“By, by, Bar X,” Josephine murmured, smiling contentedly at her husband.
THE END