like a king!... Like a King o'
France!" She clasped her hands tightly.

It was like some beautiful fantasy. A Haynes--the despised and rejected
of earth--borne to his last home with such pomp and ceremony!

"There never was nothin' like it heard of round here, Maw.... If folks
could only know--"

She lifted her head as at a challenge.

"Why, they're goin' to know, Luke--for I'm goin' to tell 'em. Folks that
have talked behind Nat's back--folks that have pitied us--when they see
this--like a King o' France!" she repeated softly. "I'm goin' down to
town to-day, Luke."

V

It was dusk when Maw came back; dusk of a clear day, with a rosy sunset
off behind the hills. Luke opened the door for her and he saw that she
had brought some of the sun along in with her--its colors in her worn
face; its peace in her eyes. She was the same, yet somehow new. Even the
tilt of her crazy old bonnet could not detract from a strange new
dignity that clothed her.

She did not speak at once, going over to warm her gloveless hands at
the stove, and staring up at the Grampaw Peel plate; then:

"When it comes--my Nat's medal--it's goin' to set right up here, 'stead
o' this old thing--an' the letters and the sermons in my shell box I got
on my weddin' trip.... Lawyer Ritchie told me to-day what it means, the
name o' that medal--Cross o' War! It's a decoration fur soldiers and
earned by bravery."

She paused; then broke out suddenly:

"I b'en a fool, settin' here grievin'. My Nat was a hero, an' I never
knew it!... A hero's folks hadn't ought to cry. It's a thing too big for
that. Come here, you little Luke! Maw hain't b'en real good to you an'
Tommy lately. You're gittin' all white an' peaked. Too much frettin'
'bout Nat. You an' me's got to stop it, I tell you. Folks round here
ain't goin' to let us fret--"

"Folks! Maw!" The words burst from the boy's heart. "Did they find
out?... You showed it to 'em? Uncle Clem--"

Maw sniffed.

"Clem! Oh, he was real took aback; but he don't count in on this--not
big enough." Then triumph hastened her story. "It's the big ones that's
mixin' into this, Lukey. Seems like they'd heard somethin' a spell back
in one o' the county papers, an' we didn't know.... Anyhow, when I first
got into town I met Judge Geer. He had me right into his office in
Masonic Hall 'fore I could git my breath almost--had me settin' in his
private room, an' sent his stenugifer out fur a cup o' cawfee fur me. He
had me