“Can you get leave this afternoon, Jack?”
“Leave? What for? What would I do with it?”
Farren’s tone was dull and listless, but his face softened a little as he looked into Micky’s eager, smiling eyes.
“Don’t you worry about that,” the boy answered. “We’ll see you have enough to do. I’ll bet the old man would let you off now if you asked him. You’ve been sick and all that, and I don’t believe you’re fit to do any work yet. Come ahead and try. We want you for all day. Cavvy’s waiting outside with a sleigh. I don’t believe you ever had a sleigh ride before. They don’t have any snow in Seattle, do they?”
“Not often,” admitted Farren. He hesitated a moment longer and then stood up slowly. His curiosity was roused, and unconsciously his load of depression was lightening. “What the deuce have you boys got up your sleeves?” he asked doubtfully.
Micky’s eyes danced. “That’s a secret,” he grinned. “You just go and get off for all day and leave the rest to us.”
Farren smiled back at the boy, a pleasant glow stealing over him. After all there were some who seemed to care whether or not he spent Christmas day lying around the barracks. His glance strayed to McBride’s legs, neatly encased in khaki.
“You’re all dolled up in your scout clothes,” he remarked, reaching for his overcoat.
“Sure! This is a scout stunt—sort of. Here let’s hold that for you. Where’s your hat? Oh, I see. There! Now, let’s get going. We’ve got a lot of things to do yet, and it’s getting later every minute.”
He slipped an arm through Farren’s, and together they walked the length of the barracks and out into the storm. As the door closed behind them the man was conscious of a sense of relief, as if in that act he had shut behind him, also, a host of memories and regrets and unattainable longings. For a time, at least, he was free from the bitterness of the past and the uncertainty of the future. His eyes brightened and a faint color came into his face. Life wasn’t such an entirely hopeless business, after all, he thought as he tilted his hat against the driving snow.