best heritage from the past.

He got up to go. And then a blinding rush of tears burned his eyes. This
room seemed dearer than all the rest of his home. It was hard to leave.
His last look was magnified, transformed. "Good-by!" he whispered, with
a swelling constriction in his throat. At the head of the dark old
stairway he paused a moment, and then with bowed head he slowly
descended.

CHAPTER XVII

An August twilight settled softly down over "Many Waters" while Lenore
Anderson dreamily gazed from her window out over the darkening fields so
tranquil now after the day's harvest toil.

Of late, in thoughtful hours such as this, she had become conscious of
strain, of longing. She had fought out a battle with herself, had
confessed her love for Kurt Dorn, and, surrendering to the enchantment
of that truth, had felt her love grow with every thought of him and
every beat of a thrilling pulse. In spite of a longing that amounted to
pain and a nameless dread she could not deny, she was happy. And she
waited, with a woman's presaging sense of events, for a crisis that was
coming.

Presently she heard her father down-stairs, his heavy tread and hearty
voice. These strenuous harvest days left him little time for his family.
And Lenore, having lost herself in her dreams, had not, of late, sought
him out in the fields. She was waiting, and, besides, his keen eyes, at
once so penetrating and so kind, had confused her. Few secrets had she
ever kept from her father.

"Where's Lenore?" she heard him ask, down in the dining-room.

"Lenorry's mooning," replied Kathleen, with a giggle.

"Ah-huh? Well, whereabouts is she moonin'?" went on Anderson.

"Why, in her room!" retorted the child. "And you can't get a word out of
her with a crowbar."

Anderson's laugh rang out with a jingle of tableware. He was eating his
supper. Then Lenore heard her mother and Rose and Kathleen all burst out
with news of a letter come that day from Jim, away training to be a
soldier. It was Rose who read this letter aloud to her father, and
outside of her swift, soft voice the absolute silence attested to the
attention of the listeners. Lenore's heart shook as she distinguished a
phrase here and there, for Jim's letter had been wonderful for her. He
had gained weight! He was getting husky enough to lick his father! He
was feeling great! There was not a boy in the outfit who could beat him
to a stuffed bag of a German soldier! And he sure could