"The time is coming very soon when we'll have the right to guard the child not only when it's a baby but even before it has been born." Roger drew closer to John after this.

Often behind the beaming smile he would feel the pain and loneliness, and the angry grit which was fighting it down.

And so he would ask John home to supper on nights when nobody else was there.

One day late in the afternoon they were walking home together along the west side of Madison Square.

The big open space was studded with lights sparkling up at the frosty stars, in a city, a world, a universe that seemed filled with the zest and the vigor of life.