d in the village after that,
for I found soon that I had acquired a reputation for bravery, of the
slender foundation for which the reader is well aware. I was invited to
many parties, but had not much heart for them and went only to one at
the home of Nettie Barrows. Sally was there. She came to me as if
nothing had interrupted our friendship and asked if I would play Hunt
the Squirrel with them. Of course I was glad to make this treaty of
peace, which was sealed with many kisses as we played together in those
lively games of the old time. I remember that I could think of nothing
in this world with which to compare her beauty. I asked if I could walk
home with her and she said that she was engaged, and while she was as
amiable as ever I came to know that night that a kind of wall had risen
between us.

I wrote a good hand those days and the leading merchant of the village
engaged me to post his books every Saturday at ten cents an hour.
Thenceforward until Christmas I gave my free days to that task. I
estimated the sum that I should earn and planned to divide it in equal
parts and proudly present it to my aunt and uncle on Christmas day.

One Saturday while I was at work on the big ledger of the merchant I ran
upon this item:

October 3. S. Wright--To one suit of
clothes for Michael Henry
from measures furnished by
S. Robinson $14.30
Shirts to match 1.70

I knew then the history of the suit of clothes which I had worn since
that rainy October night, for I remembered that Sam Robinson, the
tailor, had measured me at our house and made up the cloth of Aunt
Deel's weaving.

I observed, also, that numerous articles--a load of wood, two sacks of
flour, three pairs of boots, one coat, ten pounds of salt pork and four
bushels of potatoes--all for "Michael Henry" had been charged to Silas
Wright.

So by the merest chance I learned that the invisible "Michael Henry" was
the almoner of the modest statesman and really the spirit of Silas
Wright feeding the hungry and clothing the naked and warming the cold
house, in the absence of its owner. It was the heart of Wright joined to
that of the schoolmaster, which sat in the green chair.

I fear that my work suffered a moment's interruption, for just then I
began to know the great heart of the Senator. Its warmth was in the
clothing that covered my back, its delicacy in the ignoran