"John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave,
John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave."
"Ah," said Jack, as he turned to Hugh, "there is indeed a patriotism peculiar to itself in the great Southwest. I have marveled at your love for the frontier, but why should I, when the very air is redolent with the songs of school children immortalizing the great emancipator, John Brown? I am beginning to have a profound respect for the Sunflower State myself."
"Yes," said Hugh, "it is the birthplace and home of Ethel Horton."
"Ah!" said Jack, looking up quickly, "what magic there is in that name. The good right arm of the breadwinner is strengthened more, my dear Hugh, by an unexpected caress or an encouraging word from loved ones than by all the roast beef in Christendom."
MRS. HORTON was tireless in her devotion to Ethel. "The poor child," said she to Mrs. Osborn, "needs a change--salt breeze and good old English air again, and then the color will come back to her cheeks."
"How charming it will be," replied Mrs. Osborn, "to see jolly old England once more." She was a little nervous as she spoke, and seemed ill at ease.
She had called at the Hortons', accompanied by Lord Avondale. Ethel begged to be excused, pleading weariness, and remained in her room. The English lord seemed anything but dejected at Ethel's not wishing to see him, and, with his pipe, he strolled leisurely down the graveled walk toward the lake. A sense of proprietorship came to him as he walked back and forth in a contemplative mood. A wedding portion in good government bonds had already been formally agreed upon.
"By Jove! I wish the affair were coming off to-morrow," mused Avondale, as he knocked the ashes from his brier-root pipe and refilled and lighted it afresh. "Those beastly hot winds have left the landscape deucedly barren. The recent rains brightened it up a bit; otherwise it would be unendurable. It's a blooming country, I must say. This little lake and woods surrounding Ethel's home are about the only sights worth seeing." He laughed a little, and repeated the name of Ethel. "It sounds odd, quite odd,--and yet--" He did not audibly finish the sentence, but went on walking and smoking in a most self-satisfied way.