he said, handing her an Albany newspaper of the
day previous; "it tells the story right off. But I got a letter from
the Bishop, too," he added.

"Oh, did you?" she exclaimed, looking up from the headline--U. & M.
Grab Killed in Committee--which she had been feverishly trying to
translate into her own language. "Please let me hear. I'm never sure
what headlines mean till I go down to the fine print, and then it's
generally something else. I can understand what the Bishop says, I'm
sure."

"Well, it's only short," said Jeffrey, unfolding the letter. "He
leaves out all the part that he did himself."

"Of course," said Ruth simply. "He always does."

"He says:

"'You will see from the Albany papers, which will probably reach you
before this does, that the special session of the Legislature closed
to-night and that the railroad's bill was not reported to the Senate.
It had passed the Assembly, as you know. The bill aroused a measure of
just public anger through the newspapers and its authors evidently
thought it the part of wisdom not to risk a contest over it in the
open Senate. So there can be no legislative action in favour of the
railroad before December at the earliest, and I regard it as doubtful
that the matter will be brought up even then.'

"You see," said Jeffrey, "from this you'd never know that he was there
present at all. And it was just his speech before the committee that
aroused that public anger. Then he goes on:

"'But we must not make the mistake of presuming that the matter ends
here. You and your people are just where you were in the beginning.
Nothing has been lost, nothing gained. It is not in the nature of
things that a corporation which has spent an enormous amount of money
in constructing a line with the one purpose of getting to your lands
should now give up the idea of getting them by reason of a mere
legislative setback. They have not entered into this business in
any half-hearted manner. They are bound to carry it through
somehow--anyhow. We must realise that.

"'We need not speculate upon the soul or the conscience of a
corporation or the lack of those things. We know that this corporation
will have an answer to this defeat of its bill. We must watch for that
answer. What their future methods or their plans may be I think no man
can tell. Perhaps those plans are not yet even formed. But there will
be an answer. While rejoicing that a fear of sound public opinion has
been on your sid