gh turned her head to see who it might be, as she
reached for a spray of the fragrant honeysuckle, and found Thaine Aydelot
standing before her.

With a glad cry, she dropped the blossoms and sprang to her feet.

"Prince Quippi couldn't come nor write, so he sent me. Will I do for an
answer, Leighlie? I was coming back to the blessed old prairies, anyhow;
to my father and mother and the life of a farmer. I have come to see at
last through Asher Aydelot's eyes that wars in any cause are short-lived,
and, even with a Christian soldiery, very brutal; that after the wars come
the empire-makers, who really conquer, and that the man who patiently wins
from the soil its hundredfold of increase may be a king among men. I can
see such big things to be done here, but, oh, Leigh, are you sure you want
me here?"

Thaine was holding her hands in a gentle grip, looking with love-hungry
eyes down into her face.

"I've always been sure I wanted you," Leigh said softly, "and I've always
hoped you would come back here to the prairies again. But, Thaine, I'm so
proud of you, too, for all the heroic things you have helped to do in the
Philippines and in China. I am glad now you did go for a while. You have
been a part of a history-making that shall change all the future years."

Thaine put his arm about her and drew her close to him as he said:

"Then we'll go and build a house on the Purple Notches, a purple velvet
house with gold knobs, and all that yellow prairie away to the west that
was only grass land four years ago we'll turn to wheat fields like Asher
Aydelot's here. John Jacobs was holding that ground for somebody like you
and me. We'll buy it of his estate. We'll show the fathers what the sons
can do."

A thrill of happiness lighted Leigh's face for a moment, then a shadow
fell over it as she said:

"Thaine, Darley Champers and I have kept a secret for a year."

"You kept it 'danged' well. What was it?" Thaine asked gaily.

"Jane Aydelot, who died last year, left me all her property," Leigh
began.

"Good for Jennie," Thaine broke in, but Leigh hurried on.

"I always knew she meant to do it, and that was one reason why I sent you
away. I wouldn't have your money and I felt if you knew you wouldn't ask
me for fear I'd think--Oh, money you don't earn or inherit squarely is
such a grief," Leigh paused.

"So you wouldn't let me have any hope because of this junk in Ohio that
you were afraid you'd get and I'd seem to be