"Why, Roderick Hallowell! You are not afraid of hard work, nor of taking chances, either. Rod, tell me this minute. Are you ill? What is it, dear?"
"Nonsense. I'm perfectly well. But I am tired out. I don't know how to tell you what I mean. So tired that I dread the mere thought of going on a new contract, and taking charge of a new crew, and breaking myself in to a new piece of work. Yes, it does sound cowardly. But I cannot see my way clear. I don't believe I dare take it up."
Marian looked at him closely.
"Sleep on this, Rod. A night's rest will give you a different light on the matter."
"A night's rest won't make any difference in the facts, Sis. The position is too complicated for a greenhorn like me. I believe I could assemble the plant, all right. And I think I could handle the laborers. But the endless outside detail is what I'm afraid of. That, and the responsibility, too. For instance, on a contract like this one in Iowa, the engineers must act as paymasters, each for his division.
That means, reckon the men's time daily; make out their checks; handle their wages for them; and so on. Then there are my tabulated reports for the head office. Then my supplies. You have seen with your own eyes how much time and work just the buying of coal and machinery can demand. Then there would be a thousand smaller matters to look after. Taking it all in all, I don't want to make a try at this offer, then fail. So the sensible thing to do is, meekly to ask the company for a less impressive post."
"All that you would need for the extra work that you describe would be a competent book-keeper, Rod."
"Exactly!" Rod laughed shortly. "But a 'competent' book-keeper is the last employe that one can find for such hard, isolated work as this.
What I need is not just a man to add columns for me. I need another brain, an extra pair of hands. I need the sort of first-aid that you have been giving me all these weeks, Sis. That's the sort of help that you can't buy for love nor money. That's all."
[Illustration: MARIAN WAS ON HER KNEES BY HIS CHAIR, CLASPING HIS COLD HANDS IN HER OWN.]
Marian studied her brother's face. When she spoke, her voice was very gentle and low.
"All right, Rod. Telegraph head-quarters that you will accept."
"Why?"
"Because--I am going to take that position as book-keeper. There, now!"
Roderick sat up with some vehemence.
"Marian Hallowell, I think I see myself letting you do any more of my work. You're going back to college next week, for commencement. Then you may come West again, if you're determined to stay somewhere near me. I'm mighty glad to have you within reach, I must admit that. But you are not to live down in the woods any longer. And not another stroke of my work shall you do."
"Why not? Am I such a poor stenographer?"
Roderick laughed at her injured tone. Pride and affection mingled in that laugh.
"You have been invaluable, Sis. You know that perfectly well. I'd never have pulled through this month without you. You have been of more real use than any three ordinary stenographers rolled together.
For you have used your own brains and will and courage. You have not stood gracefully by and waited for orders. You have marched right on, and you have done a man's work straight through. But our long pull is over now. And you are well and strong again, I'm thankful to say. So back to the East you go, old lady. No more contract jobs for you."
Marian's eyes narrowed ominously. Deliberately she seated herself on the arm of her brother's chair. Gently but firmly she seized him by both ears.
"Now, Roderick Hallowell, listen to me. Three months ago the company offered you this position. I wanted you to accept it. But, of all things, I did _not_ want to go West with you. I teased and coaxed and whined. Much good my whining did me. For you just set that Rock-o'-Gibraltar chin of yours, and took me firmly by the collar and marched me along.
"Now, Roderick Hallowell, look at me!"
Chuckling and shamefaced, Roderick struggled to turn his face away; but Marian's fingers gripped mercilessly tight.
"Look at me, I say. Answer. Didn't you bully me into giving up to your wishes, by threatening to refuse this position unless I'd come West with you? Didn't you drag me out here willy-nilly? Very well. You have had your way. You have brought me here, and--_you can't send me back_.
There now."
"Marian, this is not fair." Roderick freed one ear and looked sternly at his sister. "You must finish your education. I have no right to keep you trailing around the country with me, wasting your time and cutting you off from your friends and denying you any home comfort.
You shall not sacrifice yourself----"
"Sacrifice myself, indeed!" Marian took a fresh grip. "All I ask is to stay with you until next February. Then I'll go back and take up my college work at the exact point where I laid it down. I cannot graduate with my class, no matter how hard I try. My illness last winter took too much time. So I may as well join the class following, at mid-years'. In the mean time, we will have eight splendid months together. No, I have waked up, Rod. You can't hush me off to my selfish doze again."
"But, Marian, I can't possibly permit----"
"Yes, you can. And you will. As to home comforts--isn't it home, wherever we two are together? As to being cut off from my friends--aren't you the best chum I ever had? How do you suppose I like being cut off from you, brother?"
Rod did not answer. At last he looked up. The sober gratitude in his eyes brought an answering radiance to Marian's own.
"I give up, Sis. You shall stay with me for the summer, anyway. Then we'll see. Now run away, you blessed old partner!" His big hands shut on her shoulders with an eloquent grip. "I'm going to write to head-quarters and accept that position before I have time to turn coward again and change my mind."
Marian gave him a vigorous hug of satisfaction, and ran away. Letter in hand, Roderick went to his desk.
Carefully he set down his formal, courteous acceptance. He read the finished letter with critical care. Something was lacking. Yet he had taken all possible pains. What more could his reply need?
Suddenly his face brightened. He took up his pen. Slowly and carefully he added a final paragraph:
"In accepting this promotion, I wish to do so with the understanding that my sister, Miss Hallowell, who has acted as my assistant during the past month, shall continue to hold that position under the new contract. As her work is to be counted as a part of my own, I will request that my quarterly checks shall be made out, not to R. T.
Hallowell, but to 'Hallowell & Hallowell,' as the salary is to be drawn by us on a basis of equal partnership."
He put down the finished sheet. His boyish face lighted with a slow, triumphant glow. He looked out across the gray wet country, the fog-banked river. To his eyes the dull scene was illumined. For his steady vision could see past that gray dreariness, far up the broad high-road of work and success that he had now set foot upon. These three months of heavy toil had proven him. He had seized his fighting chance, and he had made good. And now all the royal chances of his profession were waiting at his call.
"Though I never could have put it through without Marian," he said under his breath. "My splendid, plucky little old Sis! No wonder I made good, with such a partner. And from now on she shall be my real partner, bless her heart. 'Hallowell & Hallowell,' now and forever!"