, staring at his
uncle. But Captain Rayburn's face was the picture of satisfaction.

"It's all right, Jeff," said his uncle. "You never can tell what a woman
will do, but you can count on one thing--it won't be what you expect."

"You don't suppose she was angry, do you?"

The captain smiled. "No, I don't think she was angry," he said
confidently.

The door flew open again. Two impetuous arms were around Jeff's neck
from behind, nearly strangling him. A breezy swirl of skirts, and
Captain Rayburn feared for the integrity of his head upon his shoulders.
And then the two were alone again.

"Christopher Columbus!--discovered America in 1492!" ejaculated
Jefferson, an expression of great delight irradiating his countenance.
Then he looked at his uncle with an air of superior wisdom. "_Now_
she'll cry," he said.

"I shouldn't wonder if she did," agreed the captain, nodding.

* * * * *

CHAPTER IX

Lanse stood in the kitchen door, lunch-pail in hand. It lacked ten
minutes of seven of a June morning; therefore he wore his working
clothes. He glanced down at them now with an expression of extreme
distaste, then from Celia to Charlotte, both of whom wore fresh print
dresses covered with the trim pinafore aprons which were Celia's pride.

"When this siege is over," he remarked, "maybe I won't appreciate the
privilege of wearing clean linen from morning till night every day in
the week."

"Poor old Lanse!" said Celia, with compassion. "That's been the part
that has tried your soul, hasn't it! You haven't minded the work, but
the dirt----"

"I hope I'm not a Nancy, either," Lanse went on. "I'm sure I don't feel
that my wonderful dignity is compromised by my occupation. Better men
than I soil their hands to more purpose every day, but--well, I must be
off."

He departed abruptly, leaving Celia standing in the door to wave a hand
to him as he turned the corner.

"John Lansing is tired," she said to Charlotte, sisterly sympathy in her
voice. "I don't think we've half appreciated what all these months in
the shops have meant to him. It isn't as if he were training for one of
the engineering specialties, and were interested in his work as
practical education in his own line. He'll never have the least use for
anything he's learning now."

"He may," Charlotte suggested. "He may marry a girl who will want him to
do odd jobs about the house. A mechanic in the family is an awfully