of the cottage. "He has seen more in Wilbarger already than I
have ever seen here in all my life."

"We are, perhaps, a little old-fashioned, mother," replied Marion.

"Perhaps we are, child. Fashions always were a long time in reaching
Wilbarger. But there! what did it matter? We had them sooner or later,
though generally later. Still, bonnets came quite regularly. But I have
never cared much about bonnets," pursued Mrs. Manning reflectively,
"since capes went out, and those sweet ruches in front, full of little
rose-buds. There is no such thing now as a majestic bonnet."

Bro came over to tea as usual. He appeared changed. This was remarkable;
there had never been any change in him before, as far back as they could
remember.

"You are surely not going to have a fever?" asked Mrs. Manning
anxiously, skilled in fever symptoms, as are all dwellers on that shore.

"No; I have been a little overturned in mind this afternoon, that is
all," replied Bro. Then, with a shadow of importance, "I am obliged to
write to Washington."

"What _do_ you mean?" asked Mrs. Manning, for once assuming the position
of questioner.

"I have invented a--screw," he answered, hesitatingly--"a screw, which
young Mr. Vickery thinks a good one. I am going to apply for a patent on
it."

"Dear me! Apply for a patent? Do you know how?"

"Yes, I know how," replied the inventor quietly.

Marion was looking at him in surprise.

"You _invented_ the screw, Ambrose?"

"Yes, Miss Marion." Then, unable to keep down his feelings any
longer--"But there is a valve also," he added with pride, "which seems
to _me_ more important; and there is a self-register."

"Lawrence was over there this evening, was he not? And you showed him
your inventions then?"

"Yes, Miss Marion, I did."

"But why in the world, Bro, have you not told _us_, or, indeed, any one,
about them all these years?" interposed Mrs. Manning, surveying her
listener with new eyes.

"You did not ask; nobody has ever asked. Mr. Vickery is the only one."

"Then it was Lawrence who advised you to write to Washington?" said
Marion.

"Yes."

"You will take me over to the mill immediately," said the girl, rising;
"I wish to see everything.--And, mother, will you come, too?"

"Certainly," replied Mrs. Manning, with a determination to go in spite
of her avoirdupois, the darkness, the row-boat, and the steep
mill-stairs. She was devoured by curiosity, and performed the journey
without