dous bang.

* * * * *

Half an hour after his dramatic exit Captain Elisha was pacing up and
down the floor of the barn. It was an old refuge of his, a place where
he was accustomed to go when matters requiring deliberation and thought
oppressed him. He was alone. Dan had taken the horse to the blacksmith's
to be shod.

The captain strode across the floor, turned and strode back again. Every
few moments he looked at his watch. It was a long way to two o'clock,
but each additional moment was another weight piled upon his soul. As
he turned in his stride he saw a shadow move across the sill of the big,
open door. He caught his breath and stopped.

Caroline entered the barn. She came straight to him and put her hands
upon the lapels of his coat. Her eyes were wet and shining.

"Caroline?" he faltered, eagerly.

"You good man!" she breathed, softly. "Oh, you _good_ man!"

"Caroline!" his voice shook, but there was hope in it. "Caroline, you're
goin' to take the money?"

"Yes, Uncle Elisha. Mr. Sylvester has shown me that I must. He says you
will do something desperate if I refuse."

"I sartin would! And you'll take it, really?"

"Yes, Uncle Elisha."

"Glory be! And--and, Caroline, you won't hold it against me, my makin'
you think you was poor, and makin' you live in that little place, and
get along on just so much, and all that? Can you forgive me for doin'
that?"

"Forgive you? Can I ever thank you enough? I know I can't; but I can try
all my life to prove what--"

"S-s-h-h! s-s-h!... There!" with a great sigh, almost a sob, of relief,
"I guess this'll be a real Thanksgivin', after all."

But, a few minutes later, another thought came to him.

"Caroline," he asked, "I wonder if, now that things are as they are,
you couldn't do somethin' else--somethin' that would please me an
awful lot?"

"What is it, Uncle?"

"It's somethin' perhaps I ain't got any right to ask. You mustn't say
yes if you don't want to. The other day you told me you cared for Jim
Pearson, but that you sent him away 'cause you thought you had to earn
a livin' for you and Steve. Now you know that you ain't got to do that.
And you said you told him if you ever changed your mind you'd send for
him. Don't you s'pose you could send for him now--right off--so he could
get here for this big Thanksgivin' of ours? Don't you think you could,
Caroline?"

He looked down into her face, and she looked down at the ba