"Mr. Jim Bell. But who is the old gentleman?"
"Good gracious, is that fashionable looking old man a hermit?" gasped Jimsy.
"He was, I guess, but he won't be any more," laughed Peggy, happily, as she tripped to the door to welcome the visitors. The Prescotts had a maid now; but Peggy preferred to be the first to greet the newly united brothers for it was evident that Jim Bell's quest had been successful.
What greetings there were to be sure, when the two brothers were inside the cool, shady house! The old hermit's eyes gleamed delightedly as he gallantly handed Miss Prescott to a chair. As for Jim Bell, he was happy enough to "dance a jig," he said.
"I'll play for you, sir," volunteered Jimsy, going toward the piano.
"No, no," laughed Jim Bell; "I'm too old for that now. But not too old for Peter and I to have many happy days together yet, eh, Peter?"
He turned tenderly toward the old man whose eyes grew dim and moist.
"I wish dad and mother could see us now," he said, sadly, as his thoughts wandered back over the long bitter years he had spent in solitude.
"Perhaps they can," breathed Peggy, softly; "let us hope so."
"Thank you," said the old hermit, with a sigh.
But the conversation soon turned to a merrier vein. And then it drifted into business. Mr. Bancroft happened to stop in on his way into town and after a long talk with Jim Bell he seriously advised Roy to accept the mining man's proposal.
"I'll put you up a factory any place you say," said the millionaire, "and you can turn out all that we require. I've a notion, too, that they might be used as general freight carriers over arid stretches of country where there are no railroads, and feed and water for stock is scarce."
Before he left the preliminary papers had been drawn up and signed, and Roy Prescott found himself fairly launched in business. But in all this success he did not forget how much he owed to Peggy. Recent events had softened the boy's character and reduced his conceit wonderfully.
"I owe it all to you, little sis," he said that evening.
"I don't know about all," cried Jimsy, who was present; "but you do owe a whole lot to her, old man, and I'm glad to see you acknowledge it at last."
"I always have," cried Roy, turning rather red, though.