ss felt emboldened to
make her demand. It may be, you can't tell! Anyway, it's very evident
that it did no real harm. And forget my jesting, Chicken. A man can't
always cry because there are tears in his heart. I think quite as much
of that crest as you do. In the sum of human events, it is a big
thing. No one admires a Crusader more than I. No one likes a good
fight better. No Crusader ever put up a stiffer battle than I have in
the past week while working in these fields. Every inch of them is
battlefield, every furrow a separate conflict. Gaze upon the scene of
my Waterloo! When June covers it with green, it will wave over the
resting place of my slain heart!"

"Oh Laddie!" I sobbed. "There you go again! How can you?"

"Whoo-pee!" cried Laddie. "That's the question! How can I? Got to,
Little Sister! There's no other way."

"No," I was forced to admit, "there isn't. What are we going to do
now?"

"Life-saver, we'll now go to dinner," said Laddie. "Nothing except the
partnership implied in 'we' sustains me now. YOU'LL FIND A WAY TO HELP
ME OUT, WON'T YOU, LITTLE SISTER?"

"OF COURSE I WILL!" I promised, without ever stopping a minute to think
what kind of a job that was going to be.

Did you ever wish with all your might that something would happen, and
wait for it, expect it, and long for it, and nothing did, until it grew
so bad, it seemed as if you had to go on another minute you couldn't
bear it? Now I thought when Mr. Pryor talked to her, maybe she'd send
for Laddie that very same night; but send nothing! She didn't even
ride on our road any more. Of course her father had made a botch of
it! Bet I could have told her Laddie's message straighter than he did.
I could think it over, and see exactly how he'd do. He'd talk nicely
about one minute, and the first word she said, that he didn't like,
he'd be ranting, and using unsuitable words. Just as like as not he
told her that he'd lay his whip across her shoulders, like he had
Laddie. Any one could see that as long as she was his daughter, she
might be slightly handy with whips herself; at least she wouldn't be
likely to stand still and tell him to go ahead and beat her.

Sunday Laddie went to Lucy's. He said he was having a family reunion
on the installment plan. Of course we laughed, but none of us missed
the long look he sent toward Pryors' as he mounted to start in the
opposite direction.

Everything went on. I didn't see h