unspeakable bitterness of spirit
she had seen the once potent name of Daniel Herbert disappear from the
newspapers, and then she had died.

On her death the general became a rich and, in a way, a free man, for
now he could, without the silent protest of his wife, recover the
neglected lore of wood and field, and practise forgotten arts that had
in his boyhood come under the elastic head of chores. Elizabeth, his
daughter, had never shared her mother's ambitions. Perhaps because she
had always had it she cared nothing for society. She was well content to
ride about the farm with her father, whom she greatly admired, and at
whose eccentricities she only smiled.

In this agreeable comradeship with his daughter, General Herbert had
lived through the period of his bereavement with very tolerable comfort.
He had rendered the dead the dead's due of regretful tenderness; but
Elizabeth never asked him when he was going to make his reentry into
politics; and she never reproached him with having wasted the very best
years of his life in trying to make four hundred acres of
scientifically farmed land show a profit, a feat he had not yet
accomplished.

Quitting the highway, North turned in at two stone pillars that marked
the entrance to Idle Hour and walked rapidly up the maple-lined driveway
to the great arched vestibule that gave to the house the appearance of a
Norman-French chateau.

Answering the summons of the bell, a maid ushered him into the long
drawing-room, and into the presence of the general and his daughter. The
former received North with a perceptible shade of reserve. He knew more
about the young man than he would have cared to tell his daughter, since
he believed it would be better for her to make her own discoveries where
North was concerned. He had not opposed his frequent visits to Idle
Hour, for he felt that if Elizabeth was interested in the young fellow
opposition would only strengthen it. Glancing at North as he greeted
Elizabeth, the general admitted that whatever he might be, he was
presentable, indeed good-looking, handsome. Why hadn't he done something
other than make a mess of his life! He wondered, too, wishing to be
quite fair, if North had not been the subject of a good deal of
unmerited censure, if, after all, his idleness had not been the worst
thing about him. He hoped this might be true. Still he regretted that
Elizabeth should have allowed their boy and girl friendship--they had
known each