ce July tenth," she answered. Then she confided to Abe the fact
that her lover had told her before he went away that his name was not
McNeil but McNamar; that he had changed his name to keep clear of his
family until he had made a success; that he had gone east to get his
father and mother and bring them back with him; lastly she came to the
thing that worried her most--the suspicion of her father and mother that
John was not honest.

"They say that nobody but a liar would live with a false name," Ann told
him. "They say that he probably had a wife when he came here--that that
is why he don't write to me."

Then after a little silence she pleaded: "You don't think that, do you,
Abe?"

"No," said the latter, giving her the advantage of every doubt. "John did
a foolish thing but we must not condemn him without a knowledge of the
facts. The young often do foolish things and sickness would account for
his silence. But whatever the facts are you mustn't let yourself be slain
by disappointment. It isn't fair to your friends. John McNamar may be the
best man in the world still the fact remains that it would be a pretty
good world even if he were not in it and I reckon there'd be lots of men
whose love would be worth having too. You go home and go to sleep and
stop worrying, Ann. You'll get that letter one of these days."

A day or two later Abe and Harry went to Springfield. Their reason for
the trip lay in a talk between the Postmaster and Jack Kelso the night
before as they sat by the latter's fireside.

"I've been living where there was no one to find fault with my parts of
speech or with the parts of my legs which were not decently covered,"
said Abe. "The sock district of my person has been without representation
in the legislature of my intellect up to its last session. Then we got a
bill through for local improvements and the Governor has approved the
appropriation. Suddenly we discovered that there was no money in the
treasury. But Samson Traylor has offered to buy an issue of bonds of the
amount of fifteen dollars."

"I'm glad to hear you declare in favor of external improvements," said
Kelso. "We've all been too much absorbed by internal improvements. You're
on the right trail, Abe. You've been thinking of the public ear and too
little of the public eye. We must show some respect for both."

"Sometimes I think that comely dress ought to go with comely diction,"
said Abe. "But that's a thing you can't learn in