There was a roll of wheels before the door, and Hugh knew by the sound

that it was the carriage for the cars. She was going. They would never

meet again, Hugh said, and she would never know that the youth who saved

her life was the same for whose coming they would wait and watch in vain

at Spring Bank--the Hugh for whom his mother would weep a while; and for

whose dark fate even Ad might feel a little sorry. She was not wholly

depraved--she had some sisterly feeling, and his loss would waken it to

life. They would appreciate him after he was gone, and the poor heart

which had known so little love throbbed joyfully, as Hugh thought of

being loved at last even by the selfish 'Lina.

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Meantime Alice and Densie proceeded on their way to the Big Spring

station, where Colonel Tiffton was waiting for them, according to his

promise. There was a shadow in the colonel's good-humored face, and a

shadow in his heart. His idol, Nellie, was very, very sick, while added

to this was the terrible certainty that he and he alone must pay that

$10,000 note on which he had foolishly put his name, because Harney had

preferred it. He was talking with Harney when the cars came up, and the

villain, while expressing regret that the colonel should be compelled to

pay so much for what he never received, had said, with a relentless

smile: "But it's not my fault, you know. I can't afford to lose it."

From that moment the colonel felt he was a ruined man, but he would not

allow himself to appear at all discomposed.

"Wait a while," he said; "do nothing till my Nell lives or dies," and

with a sigh as he thought how much dearer to him was his youngest

daughter than all the farms in Woodford, he went forward to meet Alice,

just appearing upon the platform.

The colonel explained to Alice why she must go to Spring Bank, adding,

by way of consolation, that she would not be quite as lonely now Hugh

was at home.

"Hugh at home!" and Alice shrank back in dismay, feeling for a moment

that she could not go there.

But there was no alternative, and after a few tears, which, she could

not repress, she said, timidly: "What is this Hugh? What kind of a man, I mean?"

She could not expect the colonel to say anything bad of him, but she was

not prepared for his frank response.

"The likeliest chap in Kentucky. Nothing dandified about him, to be

sure. Wears his trouser legs in his boots as often as any way, and don't

stand about the very latest cut of his coat, but he's got a heart bigger

than an ox--yes, big as ten oxen! I'd trust him with my life, and know

it was just as safe as his own. You'll like Hugh--Nell does."




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