“It is impossible to fancy myself saying any such thing,” answered Myles, with a smile—the first that his face had worn in hours. “But, Kate, it is you who have done splendidly, and it is I who ought to be proud of having such a sister. I am proud, too, just as proud as I can be, of you, but I can’t take your money, dear.”
“Oh, Myles, what shall I do with the hateful money if you don’t take it? That is the one thing that makes money worth having—the power, I mean, that it gives us to help those we love. Don’t take away this great pleasure from me. Don’t, there’s a good boy.”
So these generous young souls struggled with each other, the one to give, and the other against receiving the gift, until finally they reached a compromise. Myles agreed to take ten dollars from his sister as a loan, while she declared she should put the rest aside for his use, and should not touch it so long as there was the slightest chance of his needing it. Then they discussed plans for the future, and Kate said:
“Why not be your own city editor, Myles, and give yourself interesting assignments to work up? I’m sure there are lots of things people want to know about, and if you would only write them up some of the papers would be certain to take your articles—and pay you well for them too.”
“The trouble is there are so many fellows doing that very thing,” answered Myles.
“Well, that is the trouble with every thing. There are quantities of people doing the same thing in every kind of business. If you can only do the same thing a little better than any one else though, or even as well as half of them, you are sure to succeed.”
“A most wise and level-headed speech, sister of mine,” said Myles, laughing, for his spirits were rapidly reviving under the influence of Kate’s cheerfulness and loving sympathy. “I will think seriously of your plan, and if nothing better turns up, why, perhaps I will make a try at it.”
Then Myles told Kate of the note he had received that morning from his “nice old Oxygen gentleman,” as they called him among themselves, and said that he didn’t know but what he ought to accept the invitation for that evening. “My friends are becoming so few that I must do some extra cultivating of those who are left, you know,” he added, with an attempt at cheerfulness.