and absently
greeted the man of wealth, yet beamed with pleasure at sight of his
small-salaried soldier companion. The secretary drew Hazzard off to one
side, in fact, and left the man of stocks and the stock-yards standing.

That evening, after the simple home dinner, with Carrie and the young
people and the colonel smiling about the board, Bonner's vexation of
spirit found vent. Duties drew the soldier away, and the banker was
left with his sister.

"What is your pay _now_, Carrie?" he abruptly asked.

"A row of threes, John--$333.33 a month," was the amused answer.

"And Hazzard's been through two wars, Heaven knows how many campaigns
and vicissitudes, and been serving the United States, night and day,
some thirty years, and that's all he has to show for it, every cent of
which has to go for living expenses--rearing, feeding, clothing, and
educating these youngsters."

"Pretty nearly. We've a little laid by for Jack's college, and the
President gives Lou his cadetship, you know, but"--and here the
blithe-faced little woman looked archly at "Uncle John," though her
look was one that said, "I mean every word of this"--"we don't think
that's all there is to it, by any manner of means. Think of his war
record! Isn't that a proud thing to leave to our boys? See how he is
regarded by the best men in our country, from the President down! He is
not yet an old man, but he has 'all that should accompany old
age--love, honor, obedience, troops of friends'--and, honestly, John,
with health and competence and _us_, what more _should_ he want?"

"Well," said Bonner, tenaciously, "I could have put him where he would
have been worth three hundred thousand by this time."

"And it wouldn't have tempted him; and I'd rather see him as he is."

"Well, I'm blessed if I can understand it," said Bonner. Then callers
put a stop to the chat. Then the colonel himself came home to his cosey
quarters, and silence had settled down over the beautiful plain. The
lights were dimmed in the barracks; the sentries paced their measured
rounds; from the verandas of the hotel came the ripple of murmured
words and soft laughter, and a tinkle of banjo and guitar. At the gate
the colonel exchanged good-night greetings with a happy-faced, motherly
looking woman whom Bonner had noticed overwhelmed with pride and
emotion during the ceremonies in the morning. He did not at first
recognize the tall, erect young fellow on whose arm she proudly leaned
as s