“Now you wouldn't surely hurl that rubbish at me,” broke in Miller. “I never would have dreamed of saying such a thing if I had not thought Alan was about to butt his head against a stone wall in the hostility of Colonel Barclay. If he had been fairly well off and she had been without money I'd have said sail in and take her, but I knew what a mercenary old man Barclay is, and I thought I could save the boy from a good many heartaches.” “That--even as you now put it--would be hard for a girl in my position to forget,” Adele told him. “For if this enterprise fails to-day, I shall--just think of it!--I shall not only be penniless, but my father will owe you a large amount of money that he never will be able to pay. Oh, I could not bear to go to you under such circumstances! I have always wanted my independence, and this grates on my very soul.” Their eyes met in a long, steady stare. “Oh, you must--you really must not see it that way,” floundered the young man. “You will make me very miserable. I can' t live without you, Adele. Besides, I shall not lose by the loan I made to your father. The land will bring the money back sooner or later, and what will it matter? You will be my wife and your parents will be my parents. Already I love them as my own. Oh, darling, don't turn me down this way! Really I can' t help the turn matters have taken, and if you care for me you ought not to wreck our happiness for a silly whim like this.” She sat unmoved for a moment, avoiding the fervid glow of his passion-filled eyes. “If this thing fails I shall be very unhappy,” she finally said. “Its success would not make me rich, but it would remove a debt that has nearly killed me. I have never mentioned it, but it has been like a sword hanging over my happiness.” “Then it shall not fail,” he told her. “It shall not fail! If those blockheads vote against it, I 'll buy the right of way, if it takes the last cent I've got.” This forced a smile to Adele's lips. “Then we'd be as deep in the mud as we now are in the mire,” she said. Just then Pole Baker came to Miller. “I don't want to make no break,” he said, “but I've got a idea I'd like to work on them hill-Billies in the jury-room if you hain't no objections. I hain't got time to tell you about it, but as you are a-runnin' the shebang I thought I'd ax permission.” “Go and do what you think best, Pole,” said Miller, recklessly. “We can trust to your head, and anything is better than nothing just now. I really think it's gone by the board.”