Joe had rolled over on the grass and was trying to catch "hoppers," laughing at the way they eluded him. I set the table, brought out the boiled ham and sliced it, and when father came in everything was ready.

He was intensely interested in the letter.

"I do wonder how Chicago will look to him after all the fine cities he's seen. I sometimes think I was a fool to come out here. Then when I see the wheat standing so thick with great golden heads, and the corn rushing along like a regiment, and the pigs fattening, and the hens laying eggs, I say it's about as good a country as the Lord has made anywhere. Only if he'd raised the ground a little higher just around 'twould a been more to my liking, and there are plenty of mountains that could have spared a slice off of them."

I went over to the Haynes' in the afternoon. Mother Haynes's letter had come too. She was beginning to have trouble with her eyesight, and her spectacles didn't seem to fit rightly. So she was glad to have me read it aloud to her. Mr. Le Moyne had raised Norman's salary, and said he would never be able to spare him. And Norman was very happy, only he did want to see all the home folks. Did father keep well, and was little Chris growing? Why didn't some of the boys write to him? With all the pleasure and the business it was hard to be away from everybody.

"Harder for him than for us," and the mother sighed.

I read her my letter except some paragraphs that had a kind of sacred feeling to me, though there was nothing very secret in them.

And if we could see him by Christmas!

CHAPTER X
A WILD RIDE

It was truly a gay summer for the grown-ups. There were rowing parties on the lake, and picnics came quite in vogue. Dan Hayne was doing a little of everything, buying and selling lots, interested in lead, in cattle, taking short journeys here and there to view coming prospects. Withal he found time for girls, went to dances, drove them out, and just when some one thought him caught, he was off with the old fancy.

Miss Garnier seemed to like him very much, or was it the spirit of coquetry? For in August a young Kentuckian of one of the first families suddenly appeared on the scene, and then it was said they had been lovers and quarrelled, and now made up again. A date was set for a speedy marriage in St. James' Church, to the great surprise of everybody.