t seemed as if some
horrible nightmare had thrust itself between Jack Carew and the sweet
dreams of his youth.

"I trust you are right, Miss Jane," said Jack, after a long pause; "but
He will have to come soon if lie sets my affairs to rights."

"Don't git down-hearted, Jack," exclaimed Miss Jane, laying her hand
upon the young man's arm with a motherly touch. "Them that's
big-hearted and broad-shouldered hain't got much to be afear'd of in
this world. Have you forgot Rose Gaither, Jack?"

"I haven't forgotten Bradley Gaither," said Jack, frowning darkly, "and
I won't forget him in a day, you may depend. Bradley Gaither is at the
bottom of all the misery you see there." The young man made a gesture
that included the whole horizon.

"Ah, Jack!" exclaimed Miss Jane, solemnly, "I won't deny but what old
Bradley Gaither is been mighty busy runnin' arter the rudiments of the
world, but the time was when you'd kindle up barely at the mention of
Rose Gaither's name."

"Shall I tell you the truth, Miss Jane?" asked Jack Carew, turning to
Miss Inchly with a frank but bashful smile.

"You've never failed to do that, Jack, when the pinch come."

"Well, this is the pinch, then. But for Rose Gaither I should have sold
out here when I first found how matters stood. I could easily sell out
now--to Bradley Gaither."

"That's so, Jack, you could," said Squire Inchly, who had been a
sympathetic listener. "Yes, sir, you could; there ain't no two ways
about that."

"But I wouldn't, and I won't," continued Jack. "Everybody around here
knows my troubles, and I propose, to stay here. I haven't forgotten
Rose Gaither, Miss Jane, but I'm afraid she has forgotten me. She has
changed greatly."

"You look in the glass," said Miss Jane, with a knowing toss of the
head, "and you'll see where the change is. Rose was here t'other day,
and she stood right in that room there, behind them identical curtains.
I wish--but I sha'n't tell the poor child's secrets. I'll say this: the
next time you see Rose Gaither a-passin' by, you raise your hat and
tell her howdy, and you'll git the sweetest smile that ever man got."

"Miss Jane!" exclaimed Jack Carew, "you are the best woman in the
world."

"Except one, I reckon," said Miss Jane, dryly.

Jack Carew rose from his chair, and straightened himself to his full
height. He was a new man. Youth and hope rekindled their fires in his
eyes. The flush of enthusiasm revisited his face.

"I feel like