s a fellow mad, and red-hot all over longing to be
there! Was there ever anything so splendid! But, I beg your pardon! Will
you not be seated? Polly went out with father, but will soon be back."

The servant brought the same message. Mrs. Wharton would be down as soon
as the children were off to school.

"Tell her not to hurry," said the audacious young man. "It is such a
treat to have company all to myself. And to-day is my first coming
downstairs. Father has been so afraid all along lest I should do
something that would undo all the good doctor's work. Between him and
Andrew they have saved my leg, and I shan't be lame. I'll come and dance
at your birthday party. It is in the spring, isn't it, and that is why
you were named Primrose?"

"I don't know for certain," and the girl smiled; "my mother was fond of
flowers."

"And it's the prettiest name under the sun." He wanted to say that it
belonged to the prettiest girl under the sun, but he did not quite dare.
For he thought this blessed October morning she was the loveliest vision
he had ever beheld.

"Oh, won't you take off your hat and that big cape, for Polly _will_ be
in soon, and I have such a heap of things to tell you. Polly said she
would ask you to come around as soon as I was allowed downstairs, and
Dr. Rush said I must wait until I could walk well. Wasn't it grand to
see Andrew in his new uniform? We've all gone in rags and patches,
and--well, when we're old fellows, we shall all be proud enough that we
fought for the country. I want to live to be a full hundred, if the
world stands so long. When have you heard from your brother?"

The young girl's face was scarlet. "Not since--since he went to New
York."

"Wasn't it queer we should all have had a hand in the fight, and Andrew
never got scratched?"

"And you saved them both! Andrew told me! Oh, I can't give you thanks
enough! My brother is very dear to me if he is on the wrong side, and I
have been angry with him."

He always remembered with a mysterious sort of gladness that she did not
say Andrew was dear to her. Of course he was, but he would rather not
have it set in words.

"Yes--that we should meet just that way! He and I had quarreled, and he
and Andrew were cousins, whose duty it was to disable each other, at
least, though the encounter was so sudden that at the first moment I
think they did not know each other. I gave a push to Andrew and that
deflected his aim, for somehow I did not wan