“Prince Quippi couldn’t come nor write, so he sent me. Will I do for an answer, Leighlie? I was coming back to the blessed old prairies, anyhow; to my father and mother and the life of a farmer. I have come to see at last through Asher Aydelot’s eyes that wars in any cause are short-lived, and, even with a Christian soldiery, very brutal; that after the wars come the empire-makers, who really conquer, and that the man who patiently wins from the soil its hundredfold of increase may be a king among men. I can see such big things to be done here, but, oh, Leigh, are you sure you want me here?”
Thaine was holding her hands in a gentle grip, looking with love-hungry eyes down into her face.
“I’ve always been sure I wanted you,” Leigh said softly, “and I’ve always hoped you would come back here to the prairies again. But, Thaine, I’m so proud of you, too, for all the heroic things you have helped to do in the Philippines and in China. I am glad now you did go for a while. You have been a part of a history-making that shall change all the future years.”
Thaine put his arm about her and drew her close to him as he said:
“Then we’ll go and build a house on the Purple Notches, a purple velvet house with gold knobs, and all that yellow prairie away to the west that was only grass land four years ago we’ll turn to wheat fields like Asher Aydelot’s here. John Jacobs was holding that ground for somebody like you and me. We’ll buy it of his estate. We’ll show the fathers what the sons can do.” 399
A thrill of happiness lighted Leigh’s face for a moment, then a shadow fell over it as she said:
“Thaine, Darley Champers and I have kept a secret for a year.”
“You kept it ’danged’ well. What was it?” Thaine asked gaily.
“Jane Aydelot, who died last year, left me all her property,” Leigh began.
“Good for Jennie,” Thaine broke in, but Leigh hurried on.