ternoon, and
again the next day. Each morning for a week she came, and, between
times, other adherents of the Black-Dott party called. They all asked
concerning the invalid, but their interest plainly centered upon her
part in the campaign. Would she be well enough to take part in the
election, that was the question. They sent flowers and notes. The
flowers reached the lady for whom they were intended; the notes did
not. And, after the first week, the calls became fewer. Annette and her
followers had, apparently, given up hope of aid and advice from their
candidate for vice-president. At any rate they ceased to trouble the
captain and his daughter.

"It's all the better, Daddy, dear," said Gertrude. "Mother will have a
chance to rest and improve now."

And Serena did improve, slowly at first, then with gratifying rapidity.
She began to sit up for a portion of each day and to sleep through
the greater part of each night. At the end of the tenth day the doctor
announced that the nurse's services were no longer necessary.

"She will be all right now," he said, referring to his patient. "But
she must continue to have absolute rest and she must not be worried or
permitted to worry. If you and she could go somewhere, Captain Dott, to
some quiet place in the country, and stay there for six months, I think
it would help her more than anything. Can you do it?"

"_I_ can do it, Doctor," replied Daniel eagerly. "I'd like to do it.
I'll go anywhere, if it will help her."

"Good! Then I will advise it and you and Miss Dott must back my advice.
Will you?"

"I will, and so'll Gertie, I'm sure. You speak to her, Doctor. We'll do
the backin' up."

So the doctor made the suggestion. Serena received it quietly, but,
when her husband came to do his share of the "backing up," she shook her
head.

"I'd like to, Daniel," she said. "I'd like to, but I can't."

"You can't? Course you can! Now let's think where we'll go. Niagara
Falls, hey? You always wanted to go to the Falls."

"No, Daniel."

"No? Well, then, how about Washin'ton? We'll see the President, and the
monument, and the Smithsonian Museum, and Congress--we'll see ALL the
curiosities and relics. We'll go to--"

"Don't, Daniel. It makes me tired out just to hear about them. I
couldn't stand all that."

"Course you couldn't! What a foolhead I am! The doctor said you needed
rest and quiet, and Washin'ton is about as quiet as the Ostable Cattle
Show. Well, what do you s