? As one who should say, 'Let it be
done,' and it was done, and just what was done nobody, nobody knew--but
it was done--something was--and all the folks felt better and went on in
the same old way! Is that it?"

He smiled at her while she teased him; the nature of the armistice that
prevailed, according to outward appearances, was not understood by him.
For several weeks his intimacy with General Waymouth had not been as
close as at the first. Not that there was distrust or even coolness
between them. The veteran still depended on the young man for the
services a trusted lieutenant could render. His plans, however, his
future programme of reorganization--if he had any definite plans--the
General kept to himself. It was not mere reticence. But there was an
atmosphere about the old statesman as though he had withdrawn himself to
a higher altitude to think his thoughts and formulate his plans alone.
If he had heard of the intimacy of Harlan Thornton with the family of
Luke Presson he made no comment on that fact.

"Now what is he going to say in his address?" she asked. "Every one will
know in a few moments. Tell me ahead--tell me the big utterance that
will make the people sit up. I want to be ready to watch their faces!"

"Why, I haven't a single idea what he will say," he blurted.

"Oh, safe repository, I salute you!"

"But I haven't! The Governor hasn't opened his mouth to me!"

"Have a care! One very easily steps from polite diplomacy into very
impolite falsehood. You must always be truthful with me, Harlan."

His eyes grew brighter and his tanned cheeks warm. It was the first time
she had addressed him without hateful formality.

"I propose to tell you the truth, always," he assured her. "But I mean
what I say--the Governor has kept his address to himself."

"I should resent that. It would have been a delicate compliment, and he
owed that much to you. I'm afraid he has been a politician long enough
to be like all the rest--to walk up to power on men as one uses a flight
of stairs, and then to put the stairs behind his back; for one doesn't
walk up-stairs backward."

He flushed more deeply.

"I'm not that kind of a fellow--jealous, or petty, or expecting a great
deal for what little service I can render."

"Put a value on yourself, though," she advised him. "It really isn't
human nature, you know, to pick up the things that are thrown away by
the owners--to pick them up and keep them and value them, I me