people off----"

"I'll tell you. We'll have him come up and join you on the train and go
down to Rock River together. I don't mean for you to get off, you can
keep right on. Now, you mustn't wear that broad hat; you wear a
grape-box straw hat while you're here. Take mine and I'll wear a cap."

He took charge of Harold's affairs with ready and tactful hand. He was
eager to hear his story, but Harold refused to talk on any other
subject than Mary. At dinner he sat in gloomy silence, disregarding his
friend's pleasant, low-voiced gossip concerning old friends in Rock
River.

After Jack left the hotel Harold went to his room and took a look at
himself in the glass. He was concerned to see of what manner of man he
really was. He was not well-satisfied with himself; his face and hands
were too brown and leathery, and when he thought of his failure as a
rancher his brow darkened. He was as far from being a cattle king as
when he wrote that boyish letter four years before, and he had sense
enough to know that a girl of Mary's grace and charm does not lack for
suitors. "Probably she is engaged or married," he thought. Life seemed a
confusion and weariness at the moment.

As soon as he heard Jack on the stairs he hurried to meet him.

"What luck? Have you seen her?"

Jack closed the door before replying, "Yes."

"What did she say?"

"She turned a little paler and just sat still for a minute or two. You
know she isn't much of a talker. Then she said, 'Was he at church
to-day?' I said 'Yes'; then she said, 'I think I saw him. I saw a
stranger and was attracted by his face, but of course I never thought
it could be Harold.' She was completely helpless for a while, but as I
talked she began to see her way. She finally said, 'He has come a long
way and I must see him. I _must_ talk with him, but people must not know
who he is.' I told her we were going to be very careful for her sake."

"That's right, we must," Harold interrupted.

"She didn't seem scared about herself. 'It won't harm me,' she said,
'but father is hard to manage when anything displeases him. We must be
careful on Harold's account.'"

Harold's throat again contracted with emotion. "She never thinks of
herself; that's her way."

"Now we've just got to walk boldly up the walk, the two of us together,
and call on her. I'll introduce you to her father or she will; he knows
me. We will talk about our school days while the old gentleman is
around. He will drif