"Don't worry; he will."

"It is one of your coups, isn't it, Arthur?" said Anna,
sarcastically, but rather admiringly. She and Mrs. Carroll both
laughed.

"We have never bought any meat in New Sanderson, so maybe Martin can
get it," Mrs. Carroll said, as she seated herself in one of the large
willow-rockers on the porch.

Dinner was very late that night at the Carrolls'. Even with a fast
horse, driving to New Sanderson and back consumed some time, but
Martin finally returned triumphant. When he drove into the yard it
was dusk and the family and the guest were all seated on the porch.
There was a steady babble of talk and laughter on the part of the
ladies, who were nervously intent on concealing, or at least
softening, the fact that dinner was so late that Major Arms might
well be excused for judging that there was to be no dinner at all.

Once, Ina had whispered to Charlotte, when the conversation among the
others swelled high: "What is the matter? Do you know?"

"Hush! Poor papa had to send to New Sanderson for meat," whispered
Charlotte.

Ina made a face of consternation; Charlotte looked sadly troubled.

"I'm afraid he is awfully hungry," whispered Ina. "I pity him."

"I pity papa," whispered Charlotte. She kept glancing at her father
with loving sympathy and understanding as the time went on. His face
was quite undisturbed, but Charlotte saw beneath the calm. When at
last she heard the carriage-wheels her heart leaped and she turned
pale. Then she dared not look at her father. Suppose Martin should
not have been successful. The eyes of all the family except Carroll
himself, who was talking about the tariff and politely supporting the
government against a hot-headed rebellion on the part of the ex-army
officer, were on him. Not an inflection in his voice changed when
Martin drove past the porch, but the others, even Eddy, who was
seated at his sister's feet on the porch-step, eyed the arrival with
undisguised eagerness. A brown-paper parcel was distinctly visible on
the seat beside Martin.

"Thank God!" Mrs. Carroll whispered, under her breath to her sister.
"He's got it."

Eddy gave vent to a small whoop of delight which he immediately
suppressed with a scared glance at his father. However, he could not
refrain from sniffing audibly with rapture when the first fragrance
of the broiling beefsteak spread through the house to the porch. Mrs.
Carroll giggled, and so did Ina, but Charlotte looked severel