"Don't you see what fun it's been for her?" returned Minnie. "She's been

having the best time she ever had; I never knew any one half so happy."

"Yes; she went up and saw him at that party, and she knows he's still

thinking about her. I shouldn't be surprised if he asked her then, and

that's what makes her so gay."

"Well, she couldn't have said 'yes,' because he went back to his bed the

next day, and he's been there most of the time since."

"Pshaw! He wasn't over his injuries, and he was weak and got malaria."

"Well, she couldn't be so happy while he's sick, if she cared very much

about him."

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"He's not very sick. She's happy because she's working for him, and she

knows his illness isn't serious. He'll be a well man when she says the

word. He's love-sick, that's what he is; I never saw a man so taken down

with it in my life."

"Then it isn't malaria?" Minnie said, with a smile of some superiority.

"You're just like your poor mother," the old gentleman answered, growing

rather red. "She never could learn to argue. What I say is that Helen

cares about him, whether she says she does or not, whether she acts like

it or not--or whether she thinks she does or not," he added irascibly. "Do

you know what she's doing for him to-day?"

"Not exactly."

"Well, when they were talking together at that party, he said something

that made her think he was anxious to get away from Plattville--you're not

to repeat this, child; she told me, relying on my discretion."

"Well?"

"Do you know why she's got these men to come here to-day to meet her--

Warren Smith and Landis and Homer, and Boswell and young Keating of Amo,

and Tom Martin and those two fellows from Gaines County?"

"Something about politics, isn't it?"

"'Something about politics!'" he echoed. "I should say it is! Wait till

it's done, and this evening I'll tell you--if you can keep a secret."

Minnie set her work-basket on the steps. "Oh, I guess I can keep a

secret," she said. "But it won't make any difference."

"You mean you've said it, and you'll stick to it that it's gratitude till

their wedding day."

"She knows he gave her father something to do, and helped him in other

ways, when no one else did."




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