k, or
he might be poor."

"How can you say such things, Jacob?" interrupted Miss Hannah
indignantly, with a little crimson spot flaming out in each of her
pale cheeks. "You know quite well he will come back. I'm as sure of it
as that I'm standing here. And he will be rich, too. People are always
trying to hint just as you've done to me, but I don't mind them. I
know."

She turned and went back into her garden with her head held high. But
her sudden anger floated away in a whiff of sweet-pea perfume that
struck her in the face; she waved her hand in farewell to her callers
and watched the buggy down the lane with a smile.

"Of course, Jacob doesn't know, and I shouldn't have snapped him up so
quick. It'll be my turn to crow when Ralph does come. My, but isn't
that girl pretty. I feel as if I'd been looking at some lovely
picture. It just makes a good day of this. Something pleasant happens
to me most every day and that girl is today's pleasant thing. I just
feel real happy and thankful that there are such beautiful creatures
in the world and that we can look at them."

"Well, of all the queer delusions!" Jacob Delancey was ejaculating as
he and his niece drove down the lane.

"What is it all about?" asked Miss Delancey curiously.

"Well, it's this way, Dorothy. Long ago Miss Hannah had a brother who
ran away from home. It was before their father and mother died. Ralph
Walworth was as wild a young scamp as ever was in Prospect and a
spendthrift in the bargain. Nobody but Hannah had any use for him, and
she just worshipped him. I must admit he was real fond of her too, but
he and his father couldn't get on at all. So finally he ups and runs
away; it was generally supposed he went to the mining country. He left
a note for Hannah bidding her goodbye and telling her that he was
going to make his fortune and would come back to her a rich man.
There's never been a word heard tell of him since, and in my opinion
it's doubtful if he's still alive. But Miss Hannah, as you saw, is
sure and certain he'll come back yet with gold dropping out of his
pockets. She's as sane as anyone everyway else, but there is no doubt
she's a little cracked on that p'int. If he never turns up she'll go
on hoping quite happy to her death. But if he should turn up and be
poor, as is ten times likelier than anything else, I believe it'd most
kill Miss Hannah. She's terrible proud for all she's so sweet, and you
saw yourself how mad she got when I