l, had really
turned out the best of fellows. The truth was, that there were very few
people who had been kind to Jane or the captain in the days when they
were all hungry together whom Neckart had not met at the farm, either as
visitors or settled in fat sinecures of office. He had arranged the
business part of their removal, indeed, in many cases. But he was in no
mood for consultation to-night--answered briefly when she spoke to him:
his face, hard and inflexible, was turned toward the river. "His mind is
filled with some matter of state--that Navy appropriation bill, I
suppose," she thought, looking at him deferentially. Her little affairs
and thoughts fell back on her as if they had struck against iron.

She never wanted sympathy or advice from others: sometimes there were
whole days in which, her father being gone, she scarcely spoke a word.
But now, at the necessity for silence, her heart sunk with a miserable
emptiness, her throat choked, hot wretched tears came up into her eyes.
She had thought all the week of this day, and she had kept the best of
all she had to tell until this evening. She thought, of course, they
would go out in the boat, and now his mind was full of the Navy
appropriation bill!

She pulled the white threads from the ragged cactus leaves beside her,
looking at him sometimes from under her lashes. "I think I will go out
on the river," she said timidly.

"Shall I push out the boat? The water will drift you without rowing,"
going promptly before her down the path. He took up the little anchor,
wiped the seat of the bateau with the sponge, and held out his hand to
help her in. She seated herself and took the oars. Surely he was coming?
He never had allowed her to go alone. No: he waited with one hand on the
stern, and then pushed her off, taking off his hat as the boat darted
out into the current and her oars struck the water.

It was the bill: no doubt it was the bill! She knew he had been sent for
to Washington on business concerning it. Of course he was a statesman,
and it was quite right that the government and the country should have
the benefit of his best thoughts. But what if this bill and other bills
should always fill his mind, and leave no room there for--for the poor
little affairs of his friends? "What would father do then?"

The oars rested motionless in the row-locks. Her eyes were dry, but
there was a breathless stricture on her breast, as though an iron hand
had clenched he