"So you really think I can’t mean it when I tell you I am glad that Sherman has lost all our money?" said Carolina. "Of course I am sorry on Addie’s account--she cares a great deal and is quite miserable over her future prospects. But she has ten thousand a year from her own estate, so she can still educate the children and get along in some degree of comfort. But as for me"--she leaned forward in her chair with the whimsical idea of testing their calibre kindling in her eyes--"if you will believe me and will not scoff, I will tell you what my plan is." "Promise," said Kate, briefly. "If Sherman can manage it, I want," said Carolina, slowly, but with an odd gleam in her eye, "to buy an abandoned farm in New England and raise chickens." In spite of her promise, Kate looked at the beautiful face and figure of the girl in blue velvet and sables who said this, and burst into a shriek of laughter, which St. Quentin, after a moment’s decorous struggle, joined. "I know," said Carolina, leaning back, still with that curious look in her eyes. "I know it sounds absurd. I know you are thinking of me out feeding chickens in these clothes. But oh, if you only knew how tired I am of--of everything that my life has held hitherto. If you only knew how unhappy I am! If you only knew how I want a farm with pigs and chickens and cows and horses. If you only knew how I long to plant things and see them grow. But above everything else in the world, if you only knew how I want a dark blue print dress! I saw a country girl in one once when I was a child in England, and I’ve never been really happy since." She joined in the burst of laughter which followed. "But do things grow on farms in New England?" asked Kate. "And isn’t that just why so many are abandoned?" "I suppose so," answered Carolina, "but those are the only ones which are cheap, and chickens don’t need a rich soil. All you’ve got to do is to--" "I’d go South," interrupted Kate, "or to California, where the c-climate would help some. I’ve read in the papers how farmers suffer when their crops fail. I--I’d hate to think of you suffering if your turnips didn’t sprout properly, Carol!" "Laugh if you want to, but I’ll get my farm in some way." "How about the old Lee estate in South Carolina?" asked St. Quentin. For the first time in his life St. Quentin was actually conscious that Carolina was mocking him. The thought was startling. Why should she dissemble? Carolina’s face fell, and a trace of bitterness crept into her voice. This seemed so natural that he forgot his curious suspicion. "I suppose that went, too. I haven’t questioned Sherman, but he told me everything was gone. That, although the house was burned during the war, and only the land itself remained, is the only thing I regret about our loss. I did love Guildford." "But you never saw it!" exclaimed Kate. Carolina’s eye flashed with enthusiasm.