of money would have seemed pitifully small.

In the postoffice, printed rulings and directions regarding the supplies
were posted on the wall, and Virginia read them carefully. Then with many
misgivings and a prayer for success, she crossed the street to Darley
Champers' place of business.

In spite of her plain dress, Virginia Aydelot was every inch a lady, and
Darley Champers, dull as he was in certain lines, felt the difference her
presence made in the atmosphere of his office when she entered there.

"I understood, Mr. Champers, that you have charge here of the supplies
sent into the state for the relief of those who suffered from the
grasshoppers," she said, when she was seated in the dingy little room.

"Yes, mom!" Champers replied.

"I am Mrs. Asher Aydelot, and I represent the Grass River settlement. I
have come to ask for a share of this relief fund, and as I must start back
as soon as possible after dinner, perhaps we can make all arrangements
now."

She never knew how near her gentle manner and pleasant voice came to
winning the day at once. Champers' first impulse was to grant her anything
she asked for; his second was to refuse everything; his third, his ruling
principle always, was to negotiate to his own advantage. He dropped his
eyes and began to play for time.

"I don't know as I can help you at all, madam," he said, half
sympathetically. "The supplies and money is about gone, except what's
promised, and, well--you ought to have come sooner. I'd a been glad to
help you, but I thought you Grass River folks had about everything you
needed for the winter."

"Oh, Mr. Champers," Virginia cried, "you know that nobody could foretell
the coming of the plague. We were as well off as hundreds of other
settlers this dry summer before the grasshoppers came."

"Yes, yes, madam, but the supplies is gone, about."

"And you cannot promise that any more will be coming soon?" The pathos of
the woman's voice was appealing.

"If you could only understand how poor and how brave those settlers are!"

"I thought your man had some little means to get you and him away, if he'd
use it that way."

The sorrow of failure here and the suffering that must follow it made
Virginia sick at heart. A homesick longing suddenly possessed her; a wish
to get away from the country and forget it altogether. And Champers was
cunning enough to understand.

"You'd just like to get away from it, now, wouldn't you?" he asked
persua