t
to the depot in Colton's automobile. His majesty went with him fur's
the platform. The gang that saw the proceedin's said the good-bys wan't
affectin'. Colton didn't shed any tears and young Carver seemed to be
pretty down at the mouth."

"But what makes you think he has gone for good?" I asked.

"Why, Alvin Baker was there, same as he usually is, and he managed to be
nigh enough to hear the last words--if there had been any."

"And there were not?"

"Nothin' to amount to much. Nothin' about comin' back, anyhow. Colton
said somethin' about bein' remembered to the young feller's ma, and
Carver said, 'Thanks,' and that was all. Alvin said 'twas pretty chilly.
They've got it all figgered out at the post-office; you see, Carver was
to come back to the meetin' house and pick up his princess, and he never
come. She started without him and got run away with. Some of the folks
paddlin' home from the festival saw the auto go by and heard the crowd
inside singin' and laughin' and hollerin'. Nobody's goin' to sing a
night like that unless they've got cargo enough below decks to make 'em
forget the wet outside. And Beriah Doane was over to Ostable yesterday
and he says it's town talk there that young Parker--the boy the auto
crowd was sayin' good-by to at the hotel--had to be helped up to his
room. No, I guess likely the Colton girl objected to her feller's
gettin' tight and forgettin' her, so he and she had a row and her dad,
the emperor, give him his discharge papers. Sounds reasonable; don't you
think so, yourself?"

I imagined that the surmise was close to the truth. I nodded and turned
away. I did not like Carver, I detested him, but somehow I no longer
felt triumph at his discomfiture. I wondered if he really cared for the
girl he had lost. It was difficult to think of him as really caring for
any one except himself, but if I had been in his place and had, through
my own foolishness, thrown away the respect and friendship of such a
girl. . . . Yes, I was beginning to feel a little of Mother's charity
for the young idiot, now that he could no longer insult and patronize
me.

Captain Jed followed me to the bank door.

"Say, Ros," he said, "changed your mind about sellin' that Lane land
yet?"

"No," I answered, impatiently. "There's no use talking about that,
Captain Dean."

"All right, all right. Humph! the fellers are gettin' consider'ble fun
out of that Lane."

"In what way?"

He laughed. "Oh, nothin'," he o