When she had punctured the last of his little balloons, he laid his hand on her shoulder, and, looking into her face, said:-- "Nancy, you really don't mean that my railroad will _never_ be built?" "No, George; but suppose it should not earn its expenses?" Her thoughts were new to the colonel. Nobody except a few foolish people in the Street, anxious to sell less valuable securities, and utterly unable to grasp the great merits of the Cartersville and Warrentown Air Line Railroad plan, had ever before advanced any such ideas in his presence. He loosened his hands from the yarn, and took a seat by the window. His aunt's misgivings had evidently so thoroughly disturbed him that for an instant I could see traces of a certain offended dignity, coupled with a nervous anxiety lest her inquiries had shaken my own confidence in his scheme. He began at once to reassure me. There was nothing to be uneasy about. Look at the bonds! Note the perfect safety of the plan of finance--the earlier coupons omitted, the subsequent peace of the investor! The peculiar location of the road, with the ancestral estates dotted along its line! The dignity of the several stations! He could hear them now in his mind called out as they whistled down brakes: "Carter Hall! Barboursville! Talcott!" No; there was nothing about the road that should disturb his aunt. For all that a still more anxious look came into his face. He began pacing the floor, buried in deep thought, his thumbs hooked behind his back. At last he stopped and took her hand. "Dear Nancy, if anything should happen to you it would break my heart. Don't be angry, it is only the major; but yo' talk with him has so disturbed me that I am determined to secure you against personal loss." Miss Nancy raised her eyes wonderingly. She evidently did not catch his meaning. "You have been good enough, my dear, to advance me certain sums of money which I still owe. I want to pay these now." "But, George, you"-- "My dearest Nancy,"--and he stooped down, and kissed her cheek,--"I will have my way. Of co'se you didn't mean anything, only I cannot let another hour pass with these accounts unsettled. Think, Nancy; it is my right. The delay affects my honor." The little lady dropped her knitting on the floor, and looked at me in a helpless way. The colonel opened the table drawer, and handed me pen and ink. "Now, Major, take this sheet of paper and draw a note of hand." I looked at his aunt inquiringly. She nodded her head in assent. "Yes, if it pleases George." I began with the usual form, entering the words "I promise to pay," and stopped for instructions. "Payable when, Colonel?" I asked. "As soon as I get the money, suh." "But you will do that anyhow, George." "Yes, I know, Nancy; but I want to settle it in some safe way." Then he gazed at the ceiling in deep thought. "I have it, Major!" And the colonel seized the pen. The note read as follows:--