pioneers."

"It isn't just Americans who do it, either, is it?" said Margery. "The
Italians and the other foreigners who come here seem to be just as
anxious to find new places--"

"Oh, but that's different," said Zara, the silent one, quickly. "I
know, because my father and I are foreigners. And do you know why we
came here? It was because we couldn't live happily in our own country!"

The girls looked at her curiously, so fiery was her speech, and so much
in earnest was she.

"We come from Poland," she said. "Over there, a man can't call his
soul his own. Soldiers and policemen used to come to our house, and
wake us up in the middle of the night to look for papers. And often
and often they would steal anything we had that they liked. Oh, how I
hate the Russians!"

Eleanor sighed. Gradually, slowly but surely, she felt that she was
finding her way into the secret of Zara and her father.

"Then you came here because you had heard that this was a free country
and a refuge for those who were oppressed?" she ventured, gently.

"Yes," said Zara. "And it's not true! There are kind people here,
like you, and Bessie, and Mr. Jamieson. But haven't they put my father
in prison, just the way they did in Poland and in Sicily, when we tried
to live there quietly? And didn't all the people in Hedgeville
persecute him, and tell lies about both of us? We haven't been happy
here."

"I'm afraid that's true, Zara. But you are going to be, remember that.
You have good friends working for you now, you and your father both.
And it isn't the fault of this country that there are bad and wicked
men in it, who are willing to do wrong if they see a chance to make
money by doing so."

"But if this country is all that people say about it, they shouldn't be
allowed to do it. The law is helping them. In Poland, it was just the
same. The law was against my father there--"

"Listen, Zara! The law may seem to help them at first, but you may be
very sure of one thing. If your father has done nothing wrong, and his
enemies have lied and deceived the people in authority in order to get
the law on their side, they will pay bitterly, for it in the end."

"But the law ought to know that my father is right--"

"The law works slowly, Zara, but in the end it is sure to be right.
You see, your father's case is a very exceptional one. The people who
made the law in the beginning couldn't have expected it to come. But
the wond