t head-quarters and bidden to complete
the maps and reports of his Oklahoma work. The maps he went at
methodically enough, but the report he hesitated over. "No," said
Wells, in response to his call and question, "Miss Wallen is not ready
to resume work at the Lambert, and it is my belief she never will be."
Then he looked keenly at the officer's face, and was gratified to see
the deep shade of anxiety and distress with which it was instantly
covered. "She'll be _well_ enough; it isn't that," he continued; "but
the girl is proud and sensitive, as any lady has a right to be, and she
hasn't forgiven Allison. Oh, yes, he sent her a sort of apology,--five
lines of somebody else's fault and ten pounds of fruit. She gave the
fruit to Mart's hopeful family, and I think she gave Allison the devil.
I didn't see her letter, but the old man dropped in here the other day
to ask when she'd be back, and incidentally remarked that she seemed to
be rapidly recovering, if fifty pounds of temper to the square inch was
any indication. 'How the mischief was I to know,' said he, 'that
hundreds of girls had to work in offices at night, had to find their way
home late at night, and that much of their work was dictated to them
during the day and had to be typed before early morning?' Even if he
didn't know, by gad," said Wells, bringing his fist down with resounding
whack on his big desk, "it's time he did know that this country isn't
France, and that these brave girls who are honorably earning their own
bread, and often, as was the case with her, supporting whole families,
are entitled to the respect, yes, by gad, the reverence, of every man
with a grain of decency in him. This is America, by the Eternal!--the
one country on the face of the globe where an honest girl may go
wheresoever her work may call her."

"Amen to that!" said Forrest, "But do you mean that she will not return
here?"

"Not unless she can be induced to withdraw her resignation. She comes to
live under our roof to-morrow, you know. That good fellow Cranston has
given Mart pay work. Her plan is to join forces with her old friend Miss
Bonner and reopen her typewriter down town, and I find she has a will of
her own."

This, too, was something Mr. Forrest became convinced of, even had he
not suspected it before. Though still sorrowing deeply over her mother's
death, Jenny was able to receive some callers by the time the troops
were going, and very prettily she thanked her fr