“You old pessimist!” cried Jack indignantly. “Have a bit of faith, eh? Why not? Well, as I was saying, Gaspard got Dalton, and then, but how he did it the Lord only knows—and I mean that, for it is the Lord’s doing, ‘and wondrous in our eyes’—he got old Tussock down there. The old boy had nothing to do with his evenings, and Gaspard shrewdly guessed that his idle moments were his dangerous moments. So he has got him involved in the Mission enterprise and in its work.”
“Yes, that has been the ruination of Dan Tussock. He has had nowhere to spend his evenings except those low-down hotels.”
“Oh, by the way,” interrupted Jack, “Gaspard worked a rather fine thing there. You know he has struck up a great friendship with the DeLaunays, father and daughter—quite captured Miss DeLaunay, who is quite an artist, by the way, and that is something of an achievement, for she is rather superior. I fancy they were rather hard up and had some vacant rooms, but however it was managed Gaspard, Dalton and old Tussock, no less, are all domiciled with the DeLaunays, where they have comfortable, clean and very congenial quarters. And that, you see, Gunning, removes Tussock from one of his danger spots. But where was I? Oh, yes. This young Gaspard got Tussock interested, got him busy fixing up the old shed, patching and mending, till one night in disgust Tussock put up a bluff to the boys, offering lumber and material if they would get their fathers and big brothers to turn in and do the work. Gaspard nailed him on the spot, Dalton jumped in, a building organisation was effected, and I have been holding them back as to building construction till I saw my way toward the inside equipment. But tomorrow—tomorrow! ladies and gentlemen—we shall break ground. Hurrah!”
“Praise the Lord!” ejaculated Mrs. Gunning fervently, who was a good old-fashioned Methodist.
“And before the snow flies the Waterside Mission will be housed in a beautiful, commodious and well equipped building of its own. That is, if Tussock, Gaspard, Dalton and Company hold together. I modestly claim to be a part of the company.”
“The heart of the company,” remarked Gunning.
“Not on your life!” cried Jack. “That’s Gaspard.”
“I do hope and pray they stick to it,” said Mrs. Gunning, earnestly.
“They’re doing awfully well at present,” said Gunning. “Making a good deal of money, and have excellent prospects of making more.”
“To my mind,” said Jack, “they’re making more than money. They’re making men.”