"But he's not!" Betty protested. "I can feel the hand of steel beneath his glove—wait and see."
Ned laughed:
"Let Ephraim alone, he's joined to his idols! As our old preacher used to say in Missouri. Your delusion is hopeless. It's well the President is safely married."
Betty's eyes twinkled. Ned paused, blushed, fumbled in his pocket and drew out the card the President had given him to deliver.
"I am ordered by the administration," he gravely continued, "to serve this document on the daughter of Senator Winter."
Betty's eyes danced with amazement as she read the message in the handwriting of the Chief Magistrate.
"He sent this to me?"
"'Good-bye—Ned!' she breathed softly."