g gentlemen were allowed to carry the implements of our
trade."

"You can't get rid of me now: I never get up as early as this unless I'm
catching a train."

"So much the worse for you, then!"

"There will be mornings when you won't think it so much fun. It rains
and snows in Indiana sometimes."

He still resented the idea of her sacrifice, as he called it, in the
cause of education. They were now so well acquainted that they were not
always careful to be polite in their talk; but he had an uneasy feeling
that she didn't wholly approve of him. All summer, when they had
discussed politics, she had avoided touching upon his personal interests
and activities. His alliance with Bassett, emphasized in the state
convention, was a subject she clearly avoided. This morning, as he kept
time to her quick step, he craved her interest and sympathy. Her plain
gray suit and simple cloth hat could not disguise her charm or grace. It
seemed to him that she was putting herself a little further away from
him, that she was approaching the business of life with a determination,
a spirit, a zest, that dwarfed to insignificance his own preoccupation
with far less important matters. She turned to glance back at a group of
children they had passed audibly speculating as to the character of
teacher the day held in store for them.

"Don't you think they're worth working for?" Sylvia asked.

Dan shrugged his shoulders.

"I suppose more lives are ground up in the school-teaching machine than
in any other way. Go on! The girl who taught me my alphabet in the
little red school-house in Harrison County earned her salary, I can tell
you. She was seventeen and wore a pink dress."

"I'm sorry you don't approve of me or my clothes. Now Allen approves of
me: I like Allen."

"His approval is important, I dare say."

"Yes, very. It's nice to be approved of. It helps some."

"And I suppose there ought to be a certain reciprocity in approval and
disapproval?"

"Oh, there's bound to be!"

Their eyes met and they laughed lightheartedly.

"I'm going to tell you something," said Dan. "On the reciprocal theory I
can't expect anything, but I'm lonesome and have no friends anyhow, so
I'll give you a chance to say something withering and edged with a fine
scorn."

"Good! I'll promise not to disappoint you."

"I'm going to be put on the legislature ticket to-day--to fill a
vacancy. I suppose you'll pray earnestly for my defeat."

"Why should I w