ness! If--if the noise and confusion of the city have
distracted her she must come back to the mountains. Lans will agree to
this--I do not doubt him! She must not--kill herself--you will know
when you see her. You must come back and tell me--you will?"

"I will, son."

Matilda yearned to show him Olive Treadwell's letter, but something
kept her from doing it. She wanted to do what she could for Sandy in
her own way, and suddenly she felt herself a giant of strength and
purpose.

"Travel alone!" she said to Levi later when she had cowed the poor man
by her determination and exactions, "of course I can travel alone. Am
I an idiot, Levi, or a fool? Haven't I a good American tongue to ask
questions with? I remember our mother once told us she would spank us
well if we ever got lost in a place where folks talked the same
language we did. You put me on the train at The Forge with a through
seat in a Pullman, telegraph to Mary Jane to meet me in New York, and I
guess I can manage."

"But, 'Tilda, what on earth has seized you to act so uncertain in the
middle of this visit? What will they think of you and me?"

Then Matilda made her master stroke and, by virtue of her
sex-privilege, completed her triumph over her brother.

"Levi," she said--she was standing before him, her thin hands on his
shoulders--"I ain't ever had what you might call a real fling where my
emotions and sentiments were concerned. Let go of me, just this once,
and trust me! I've always been sort of held back. First it was father
and mother; then Caroline, and lastly you! I ain't never done exactly
what I wanted to do without explaining, and now I want to be left free
even if I die for it!"

"Well, well!" blurted Levi, but he caught the idea. "I guess women do
have a sense of the tight rein now and then; it may lie loose mostly,
but it never is quite laid off. 'Tilda, you may cut and run now, for
all of me. I'll see to what, you may say, are your animal
comforts--parlour car seats, tickets, and some one waiting for you in
town, but you kick the heels of your inclinations good and high for
once and I bet you and me will run the rest of the race together
better, forever after. Whoop it up, 'Tilda, and remember money needn't
be a hold back. You've got a big, fat slice coming to you, old girl."

Now that Levi had dropped the reins, the spirit of adventure possessed
him. He and Sandy saw Matilda off on her journey three days later, in