r time."

* * * * *

Dan Harwood never doubted that he loved Sally Owen after that dark day
of Sylvia's home-coming. From the time Sylvia stepped from the train
till the moment when, late that same afternoon, just as the shadows were
gathering, Andrew Kelton was buried with academic and military honors
befitting his two-fold achievements, Mrs. Owen had shown the tenderness
of the gentlest of mothers to the forlorn girl. The scene at the grave
sank deep into Dan's memory--the patriarchal figure of Dr. Wandless,
with the faculty and undergraduates ranged behind him; the old
minister's voice lifted in a benediction that thrilled with a note of
triumphant faith; and the hymn sung by the students at the end, boys'
voices, sweet and clear, floating off into the sunset. And nothing in
Dan's life had ever moved him so much as when Mrs. Owen, standing beside
Sylvia and representing in her gaunt figure the whole world of love and
kindness, bent down at the very end and kissed the sobbing girl and led
her away.

Harwood called on Mrs. Owen at the cottage in Buckeye Lane that
evening. She came down from Sylvia's room and met him in the little
library, which he found unchanged from the day of his visit five years
before.

"That little girl is a hero," she began. "I guess she's about the
lonesomest girl in the world to-night. Andrew Kelton was a man and a
good one. He hadn't been well for years, the doctor tells me; trouble
with his heart, but he kept it to himself; didn't want to worry the
girl. I tell you everything helps at a time like this. Admiral Martin
came over to represent the Navy, and you saw the G.A.R. there; it caught
me in the throat when the bugle blew good-night for Andrew. Sylvia will
rally and go on and do some big thing. It's in her. I reckon she'll have
to go back to college, this being her last year. Too bad the
commencement's all spoiled for her."

"Yes; she won't have much heart for it; but she must get her degree."

"She'll need a rest after this. I'll go back with her, and then I'm
going to take her up to Waupegan with me for the summer. There are some
things to settle about her, and I'm glad you stayed. Andrew owned this
house, but I shouldn't think Sylvia would want to keep it: houses in a
town like this are a nuisance if you don't live where you can watch the
tenants," she went on, her practical mind asserting itself.

"I suppose--" Dan began and then hesitated. It ga