if he meant his foot, the colonel smiled like a woman and said gently,
'No, Miss Lucy, not there--not there at all; in his heart, my dear,
in his heart!'"

And the general's eyes met the eyes of a mother wandering toward a boy
of nine sleeping, tired out, on a couch near by; he was a little boy
with dark hair, and red tanned cheeks, and his mouth--such a soft
innocent mouth--curved prettily, like the lips of children in old
pictures, and as he slept he smiled, and the general, meeting the
mother's eyes coming back from the little face, wiped his glasses and
nodded his head in understanding; in a moment they both rose and stood
hand in hand over their child, and the mother said in a trembling
voice, "And his mother prayed for him, too--she has told me so--so
many times."

But the people of Sycamore Ridge and of the Mississippi Valley did not
indulge in any fine speculations upon the meaning of life when they
thought of John Barclay. He had become considerable of a figure in the
world, and the Middle West was proud of him. For those were the days
of tin cornices, false fronts, vain pretences, and borrowed plumes
bought with borrowed money. Other people's capital was easy to get,
and every one was rich. Debt was regarded as an evidence of
prosperity, and the town ran mad with the rest of the country. It is
not strange then that Mrs. Watts McHurdie, she who for four years
during the war dispensed "beefsteak--ham and eggs--breakfast
bacon--tea--coffee--iced tea--or--milk" at the Thayer House, and
for ten years thereafter sold dry-goods and kept books at Dorman's
store, should have become tainted with the infection of the times. But
it is strange that she could have inoculated so sane a little man as
Watts. Still, there were Delilah and Samson, and of course Samson was
a much larger man than Watts, and Nellie McHurdie was considerably
larger than Delilah; and you never can tell about those things,
anyway. Also it must not be forgotten that Nellie McHurdie since her
marriage had become Grand Preceptress in one lodge, Worthy Matron in
another, Senior Vice Commander in a third, and Worshipful Benefactress
in a fourth, to say nothing of positions as corresponding secretary,
delegate to the state convention, Keeper of the Records and Seals,
Scribe,--and perhaps Pharisee,--in half a dozen others, all in the
interests of her husband's political future; and with such obvious
devotion before him, it is small wonder after all that