"Father! Father!" she sobbed, and then she clung to him, while he held her in a yearning, strong embrace, saying, "It's hard, my daughter, terribly hard for all of us, but it was the thing that I had to do. Dan, I am sure, has told you all that happened. But it won't be for long, Janey. What I have done once, I can do again." He led her to a rustic bench under one of the trees, and removing her hat, he stroked her dark, glossy hair. "Jane, dear," he implored, when her sobs grew less, "try to be brave, just for a time. Promise me!" Then, as the girl did not speak, the man went on, "We have tried so hard, all of us together, to make it possible for you to finish at Highacres. Poor Dan made the biggest sacrifice. I feared that I would have to send for you to come home, perhaps only for this term, but Dan wrote, 'Father, use my college money for Jane's tuition. I'll work my way through for the rest of this year.' And that is what he did. Notwithstanding the fact that he had to study until long after midnight, he worked during the day, nor did he stop when he caught a severe cold. He did not let us know how ill he was, but struggled on and finished the year with high honors, but, oh, my daughter, you can see how worn he is. Dr. Sanders tells me that Dan must go to the Colorado mountains for the summer and I have been waiting, dear, to talk it over with you. You will want to go with Dan to take care of him, won't you, Jane?" Almost before the girl knew that she was going to say it, she heard her self-pitying voice expostulating, "Oh, Dad, how cruel fate is! Marion Starr wanted me to go with her to Newport. They're going to one of those adorable cottage-hotels, she and her Aunt Belle, and we three girls who have been Merry's best friends were to go with her. It would only cost me one hundred dollars a month. That isn't so very much, is it, Dad?" Mr. Abbott sighed. "Jane," and there was infinite reproach in his tone, "am I to believe that you are willing that Dan should go alone to the mountains to try to find there the health he lost in his endeavor to help you?" Again the girl sobbed. "Oh, Dad, how selfish I am! How terribly selfish! I love Dan, but the thing I want to do is to go to Newport. Of course I know I can't go, but, oh, _how_ I do want to."