compass. I fancied he struck a
false note once, though."

"It was all false--false and cruel!" vehemently. "And why should he sing
it there, where you and I have always had such good times?"

"I am astonished, Jane! But you never had any perception of character.
Bruce is such a thoroughly good fellow, I fancied you would be friends."

"I never saw any one before whom I disliked so much," slowly, as if to
collect her verdict with certainty. "He seems to me like so much
unmitigated brute force."

"Tut! tut!" said the captain absently, looking out to see how the early
wheat was coming on.

She touched his arm presently: "Father, you said you thought we should be
good friends. I never had a man for a friend but you."

"Certainly not. Good Heavens! what are you thinking of?"

"Most girls do," gravely, her color rising. "Oh, I know all about the
world. Miss Fleming told me that when she was my age she had a dozen
chums--hearty, good fellows."

The captain hastily put his arm about her: "All very well for Cornelia
Fleming, child. She's a middle-aged woman. But not for you."

"When I am middle-aged, then," looking up at him anxiously, "if I have a
friend I know precisely what he will be. Of fair complexion, placid,
truth-telling--"

"Yourself duplicated," laughed the captain. "But here is Mr. Neckart."

The two men took the seat in front of her, and as night came on and the
lamps burned dimly, Jane wrapped her veil about her head and fell asleep.
Mr. Neckart remembered at last the purpose of his visit in the morning.

"Surely something can be done to compel Laidley to leave the property to
its rightful owners. Have you stated the case to him plainly?" he asked.

"I? State it? Now, Bruce, how could I? If I were not the one to be
benefited by it, I'd put it to him forcibly enough. But as it is--No, I've
not the moral courage for that."

"But for your daughter's sake--"

"I know. I've thought it all over. But Jane and I can keep on in the old
way a little longer. Scanty and happy-go-lucky, but, on the whole,
comfortable." He was silent a while, and then in a cautious whisper said,
"I'll explain to you, Bruce. I might have made Jane's life easier if I had
worked. I know that. I know our friends look on me as a lazy, selfish dog,
a dead weight on the child. But--you are the first person to whom I have
ever told this--I have had for many years a disorder, an ailment, which
must in any case make my life a short one.