The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-08-17

little pale ana haggaro, but TOT Cne rest his old serene self again. He man. aged not to smile at her small and seri- ous face
 s Tt certainly has notetrengthenedm my vanity little bit, either," said hes ito learn how smoothly things can move along without me"
 Day by day the girl was finding her way deeper into that tnnermost heart of him which he had never shared with other woman or man. Hour by hour she was learning to know him better. and yet his whimsical gravity still could deceive her-she was sometimes thoughts behind his thoughts. Hard upon his reply her eyes flashed with fn- dignation.
 "Poohp' she scofed. Pooh! Most any old clock will run after somebody's woend 1t up!"
 It was a trick of speech that she had learned from him, but his employ ment of parallel, lazily amiable for the most part, had never been so hotly par- tisan as was hers at that moment. And suddenly self conscious, suddenly confused and warmly disconcerted at the quality of his gaze, s,,e had to hide her head. But she hid 1t upon shoul- der most conveniently at hand.
 Spring gave way to early summer, and now Steve was able to be on his feet again, SO absurdly uncertain of balance at first, however, that she ridi- culed him unmercifully one moment, only to rush to him in a panic of so- Ncitude the next. There came long walks and longer trips in the saddle; came hours of silence that were the more wonderful for want of words hours in which, in . hushed voice, she gave him shyly of her plans. But al ways, too, the fnteEruptdons grew more and more frequent and insistent Fat Joe and Mclean and even Hardwick Nliott made more and more pressing { demands upon his hme,. until finally he 1nalstsd that he could ro, longer play shamelessiy the invalid He must look in upon the works up river if only for the moral effect which 1t would have upon the men. She assented grudging-
 V. It would be but day or two, and then-then he would como back to her.
 The next morning, at the moment when Barbara and Steve were mount ing their horses. for she wanted to ride with him . little way. Dexter Allison chose to disclose something which had been but lately in the process of prepa- ration. He joined them at the edge of the lawn before the white columned house on the hill
 'sHasfng back into harness, under stand," he began. not quite comforta- ply, however, for he was aware of a gleam of disapproval in his daughters eyes at this interruption. "WeIl, there's no great rush, but it's wise no doubt to see that things don't lag" He hesi- tated and shifted heavily to the other foot wen want to staro through to the border by fall, suppose F wen be ready" Steve had to laugh | 1t his lack of ease.
 sNo doubt mo doubt" Again Dex- | ter hesitated momentarily. And then there came to the surface that prone ness to accept men for what they were in a mans world which had long be- fore convinced Caleb Hunter of All son,s inherent bigness.
 "Elhott resigned the presidency of
 the East Coast company last night." !" l The statement was brief to actual
 crispness- "I merely tell you this so
 that you can begin to lay tentative
 plans accordingly, because in view of
 the immediate need of flling that va
 cancy feel sure that there will be too many demands upon your time here at
 the Morrison office for you to plan on
 much field work for yourself in the fu- l ture."
 To Barbara at the beginning the I speech seemed merely another of her
 fathers rather involved, entirely la
 bored attempts at the facetious But
 when she saw the blood steal up and
 stain Stephen O'Mara's face she re-
 alized that 1t was the very sors of
 suggestion from which on her lips he