"I went there to take some flowers to-day, and I saw this child,--she is a little beauty,--and I asked Doctor Shourds who she was and he told me. The trouble is with her ankles. Her feet are perfectly formed, but they turn in and she can’t bear her weight upon them, nor walk a step." "She _can_ walk!" said Carolina, in a low, earnest voice. "God, in His Divine Love, never made a crippled baby!" Something smarted in Mr. Howard’s eyes. He, was no believer in Christian Science, but he loved little children, and Carolina’s tone of deep and quiet conviction wrenched his heart. "Carol, Carol!" wailed Kate, wringing her nose and mopping her eyes, with utter disregard of their redness, "you do make me howl so!" "Carolina," said Mr. Howard, suddenly, "you know that I do not personally subscribe to the teachings of your new religion, but I am an observer of human nature, and I know the hall-marks of real Christianity. I have seen you to-night keep your temper under trying circumstances, defend your faith with spirit, and exemplify the command to love your enemies, and I want to tell you that if there is anything I can do toward financing a plan to buy Guildford from Colonel Yancey, and installing you there to pursue your life-work, you can count on me." Carolina made an attempt to speak, but her eyes swam in tears, and she buried her face in her arm. "Oh, daddy! daddy! D-dear old daddy!" cried Kate, dancing up and down in her excitement. "I knew y-you were up to something! Y-you may not care for C-Christian Science, b-but, when you s-see a good thing, you know enough to p-push it along!" CHAPTER X. CROSS PURPOSES "Noel must take me for a f-fool if he thinks I don’t see through him!" said Kate, angrily, to her own image in the glass. It was about three months after Mr. Howard had offered to help Carolina to regain Guildford. "H-he wants to p-pump me," she went on, adjusting her motor veil. "I d-don’t mind trying his automobile, b-but I hate to t-think he takes me for a s-sucker!" She rummaged viciously in her top drawer for her goggles. "I wonder if he th-thinks I don’t know he asked Carol first. Men are s-such fools! But j-just wait! He wants m-me to tell him things. M-maybe I won’t g-give him a run for his money!" But, as she ran down the steps and jumped into the powerful new racing machine, all outward trace of vexation was gone, and St. Quentin was quite as excusable as most men who believe they can outwit a clever woman. Not that St. Quentin was particularly noticeable for his conceit. He seemed like the majority of men, who are merely self-absorbed. Yet in many respects he was quite different.