make some job
with that old bayonet! So ran Jim's message to the loved ones at home.
Then a strange pride replaced the quake in Lenore's heart. Not now would
she have had Jim stay home. She had sacrificed him. Something subtler
than thought told her she would never see him again. And, oh, how dear
he had become!

Then Anderson roared his delight in that letter and banged the table
with his fist. The girls excitedly talked in unison. But the mother was
significantly silent. Lenore forgot them presently and went back to her
dreaming. It was just about dark when her father called.

"Lenore."

"Yes, father," she replied.

"I'm comin' up," he said, and his heavy tread sounded in the hall. It
was followed by the swift patter of little feet. "Say, you kids go back.
I want to talk to Lenore."

"Daddy," came Kathleen's shrill, guilty whisper, "I was only in
fun--about her mooning."

The father laughed again and slowly mounted the stairs. Lenore reflected
uneasily that he seldom came to her room. Also, when he was most
concerned with trouble he usually sought her.

"Hello! All in the dark?" he said, as he came in. "May I turn on the
light?"

Lenore assented, though not quite readily. But Anderson did not turn on
the light. He bumped into things on the way to where she was curled up
in her window-seat, and he dropped wearily into Lenore's big arm-chair.

"How are you, daddy?" she inquired.

"Dog tired, but feelin' fine," he replied. "I've got a meetin' at eight
an' I need a rest. Reckon I'd like to smoke--an' talk to you--if you
don't mind."

"I'd sure rather listen to my dad than any one," she replied, softly.
She knew he had come with news or trouble or need of help. He always
began that way. She could measure his mood by the preliminaries before
his disclosure. And she fortified herself.

"Wasn't that a great letter from the boy?" began Anderson, as he lit a
cigar. By the flash of the match Lenore got a glimpse of his dark and
unguarded face. Indeed, she did well to fortify herself.

"Fine!... He wrote it to me. I laughed. I swelled with pride. It sent my
blood racing. It filled me with fight.... Then I sneaked up here to
cry."

"Ah-huh!" exclaimed Anderson, with a loud sigh. Then for a moment of
silence the end of his cigar alternately paled and glowed. "Lenore, did
you get any--any kind of a hunch from Jim's letter?"

"I don't exactly understand what you mean," replied Lenore.

"Did somethin'--strange an