t seemed to be
the only way out of our troubles. But she will not even write to him
now. I think that she is very unhappy."

"I shall not try to increase her troubles, but I shall prevent her from
marrying Davis if I can," said Harry.

"Why?"

"Because I think he is dishonest."

"He has convinced me that all the reports are wrong," Mrs. Kelso
declared. "I think that he is one of the kindest and best of men."

"I shall not argue with you as to the character of my rival," Harry
answered. "The facts will be on record one of these days and then you can
form your own judgment. I hope you won't mind my coming here to see you
and the baby now and then."

"You are always welcome. But Mr. Davis comes often and feeling as you do
it might be unpleasant for you to meet him."

"It would. I'll keep away until the air clears," said Harry.

He wrote a very tender letter to Bim that day. He told her that he had
come to Chicago to live so that he might be near her and ready to help
her if she needed help. "The same old love is in my heart that made me
want you for my wife long ago, that has filled my letters and sustained
me in many an hour of peril," he wrote. "If you really think that you
must marry Davis, I ask you at least to wait for the developments of a
suit which Abe Lincoln is bringing in behalf of many citizens of Tazewell
County. It is likely that we shall know more than we do now before that
case ends. I saw your beautiful little boy. He looks so much like you
that I long to steal him and keep him with me."

In a few days he received this brief reply:

* * * * *

"Dear Harry: Your letter pleased and pained me. I have been so tossed
about that I don't know quite where I stand. My brain is like a bridge
that has been washed out by floods. I am picking up the fragments and
trying to rebuild it. For a long time my life has been nothing but a
series of emotions. What Honest Abe may be able to prove I know not, but
I am sure that he can not disprove the fact that Mr. Davis has been kind
and generous to me. For that I can not ever cease to be grateful. I
should have married him before now but for one singular circumstance.
My little boy can not be made to like him. He will have nothing to do
with Mr. Davis. He will not be bribed or coerced. Time and kindness do
not seem to diminish his dislike. My soul has been drugged with argument
and--I can not help saying it--bribed with favors. But th