, "I rather envy you that you
were rescued by such a handsome cavalier."

"Really," drawled Kate, "I should have preferred not being rescued.
The owner of a coach, a coat of arms, silver harness, and the best
horses in the country! I could drive on forever."

But later, alone with Susan, she looked hard at her:

"So you fainted yesterday?"

"Oh, I'm a perfect coward," returned the other, frankly.

Kate's mind rapidly swept the rough and troubled past; the haphazard
sea upon which they had embarked so long ago--

"Dear me!" she remarked quietly, and Susan turned to conceal a blush.

Owing to the magistrate's zeal in relating the story of the rescue,
the players' success that night was great.

"The hall was filled to overflowing," says the manager in his date
book. "At the end of the second act, the little girl was called out,
and much to her inward discomfiture the magistrate presented her with
a bouquet and the audience with a written speech. Taking advantage of
the occasion, he pointed a political moral from the tale, and referred
to his own candidacy to the legislature, where he would look after the
interests of the rank and file. It was time the land-owners were
taught their places--not by violence--Oh, no--no French methods for
Americans!--by ballot, not by bullet! Let the people vote for an
amendment to the constitution!

"As we were preparing to leave the theater, the magistrate appeared
behind the scenes. 'Of course, Mr. Barnes, you will appear against the
patroon?' he said. 'His prosecution will do much to fortify the
issue.'

"'That is all very fine,' I returned, satirically. 'But will the Lord
provide while we are trying the case? Shall we find miraculous
sustenance? We live by moving on, sir. One or two nights in a place;
sometimes, a little longer! No, no; 'tis necessary to forget, if not
to forgive. You'll have to fortify your issue without us.'

"'Well, well,' he said, good-naturedly, 'if it's against your
interests, I have no wish to press the matter.' Whereupon we shook
hands heartily and parted. I looked around for Constance, but she had
left the hall with Saint-Prosper. Have I been wise in asking him to
join the chariot? I sometimes half regret we are beholden to him--"

From the Shadengo Valley Barnes' company proceeded by easy stages to
Ohio, where the roads were more difficult than any the chariot had yet
encountered. On every hand, as they crossed the country, sounded the
refrains of