hasn't been able to do
you justice."

She was silent for a little, and then into the serene contentment of her
eyes crept a tiny shadow of trouble.

"Boone, dear," she said soberly, "we have a long time to wait--and we
can't afford to--let ourselves--be tempest-tossed this way--until we can
see the end. We can't be patient and--like this--at the same time."

"How can I be patient?" he demanded.

"You know," she reminded him. "I'm not wearing an engagement ring yet
and--"

His face shadowed ruefully, but he forced a confident smile and pitched
his tone to the manner of jest.

"The ring that's fit for you to wear ought to cost a king's ransom,
Anne," he declared, "and I haven't any monarchs in the 'jail-house' just
yet."

"It isn't that, dear, and you know it. If I were to wear your ring
now--with years perhaps of waiting--it would only mean endless war at
home. There'll be unavoidable battles enough when the time comes. It
hardly seems worth while to court them in advance."

"I knew,"--he spoke with a heavy heart--"that they'd take you through
the torture chamber before they let you marry me. Are you sure, dearest,
that I'm worth it to you?"

The girl's head came up with the tilt of pride which he loved, and with
the violet blaze in its eyes.

"Have I complained?" she asked.

"Anne,"--the man bent forward and spoke with the fervent earnestness of
invincible resolve--"I have a long way to go. I'm still down on the
ground level and you are still the evening star! Stars and groundlings,
dear heart! They're very far apart, but there's a beacon burning before
me and there's a magic in your love!" His expression had grown as tender
as it had a little while before been elemental, yet it was not less
purposeful. "In time, by God's grace I shall climb up to you, but it's a
steep journey, and it's asking a good deal of you to mark time while I
travel it."

"It's asking so much," declared the girl, "that I wouldn't do it if it
wasn't the one thing in the world I want to do--if my heart wasn't set
on that and nothing else."

"Thank God!" he breathed, "and thank _you_!"

After a little Anne spoke speculatively:

"I've missed you rather terribly this time. You've seemed to be away so
long."

"I've been building political fences, but to me it's been exile," he
told her. "This race for the legislature seems a trivial thing to keep
me away from you. If I win it--and God knows I've _got_ to win--it's
still a petty v