sort that half sees things in lightning flashes, but a
vigorous mind, that can grapple with a problem and fight it out. I'm
afraid to tell you how remarkable I think she is. No; poor Edna was not
like that. She hated study."

"Sylvia's very quiet, but I reckon she takes everything in. It's in her
eyes that she's different. And I guess that quietness means she's got
power locked up in her. Children do show it. Now Marian, my grandniece,
is a different sort. She's a forthputting youngster that's going to be
hard to break to harness. She looks pretty, grazing in the pasture and
kicking up her heels, but I don't see what class she's going to fit
into. Now, Hallie,--my niece, Mrs. Bassett,--she's one of these club
fussers,--always studying poetry and reading papers and coming up to
town to state conventions or federations and speaking pieces in a new
hat. Hallie's smart at it. She was president of the Daughters once, by
way of showing that our folks in North Carolina fought in the
Revolution, which I reckon they did; though I never saw where Hallie
proved it; but the speech I heard her make at the Propylaeum wouldn't
have jarred things much if it hadn't been for Hallie's feathers. She
likes her clothes--she always had 'em, you know. My brother Blackford
left her a very nice fortune; and Morton Bassett makes money. Well, as I
started to say, there's all kinds of women,--the old ones like me that
never went to school much, and Hallie's kind, that sort o' walked
through the orchard and picked the nearest peaches, and then starts in
at thirty to take courses in Italian Art, and Marian, who gives her
teachers nervous prostration, and Sylvia, who takes to books naturally."

"There are all kinds of girls, just as there are all kinds of boys. Good
students, real scholars have always been rare in the world--men and
women. I should like to see Sylvia go high and far; I should like her to
have every chance."

"All right, Andrew; let's do it. How much does a college course cost for
a girl?"

"I didn't come here to interest you in the money side of it, Sally; I
expected--"

"Answer my question, Andrew."

"I had expected to give her a four-year course for five thousand
dollars. The actual tuition isn't so much; it's railroad fare, clothing,
and other expenses."

Mrs. Owen turned towards Kelton with a smile on her kind, shrewd face.

"Andrew, just to please me, I want you to let me be partners with you in
this. What you've told