"Yes; of course, Phil. I've thought about that, too. I've thought about almost everything. And I'm not afraid of life, Phil,--not with you. Out here in the fields it's different from anywhere else, and easier. Those old stars are closer, some way, here in the country. You've got more room to think in, and it isn't a narrow life, but a broad one when you consider it. You've taught me to understand all that, Phil! I believe you feel a good deal about it as I do, and the work you want to do ought to be better for being done out here where the corn grows tall. We won't stay here always. We'll go off in the winters and look at the big world, and come back home to study it over. And we'll try to do a little good as we go along." "Yes; we mustn't forget that, Fred." His simple way of speaking of things that meant much to him had always touched her. Her pressure tightened on his hand and he bent and kissed her. "But, Fred!" she exclaimed suddenly, as they loitered on, "Amy will be awfully cross. We'd planned to go abroad next summer, and he won't forgive me if I get married so I can't." "Oh, don't you worry about _him_!" "Of course I'll worry about him; why shouldn't I?" she demanded. "Because I told him I was going to ask you," Fred laughed, "and he said 'Thunder' and blew his nose and wished me good luck!" "When did all that happen, if you please, sir?" "Last Sunday. We talked about you all afternoon." "And he said--oh, the hypocrite!" she cried; and then declared resolutely, "I'm going to muss him! Come on, Fred; I'll race you to the house!" THE END The Riverside Press CAMBRIDGE . MASSACHUSETTS U . S . A A HOOSIER CHRONICLE By Meredith Nicholson "It is one of the bravest, sweetest, most optimistic books in which, ever, plain truths of humanity and history have been mingled with the weavings of fiction."--_N. Y. World._ "Mr. Nicholson knows whereof he writes, and the picture of the political and social life of the capital which he gives us in the present volume is vigorous and convincing."--_Boston Transcript._ "It puts Mr. Nicholson in the front rank of American novelists who are trying to produce real literature."--_Indianapolis Star._ "In 'A Hoosier Chronicle' he has done something much bigger, and given us a work of fiction of a richly human sort, creating real characters and giving us a penetrating study of political life and domestic relations in the commonwealth of Indiana."--_The Dial._ * * * * * Illustrated in color by F. C. Yohn. Square crown 8vo. $1.40 _net._ Postage 16 cents * * * * * HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY [Illustration] BOSTON AND NEW YORK V. V.'S EYES By HENRY SYDNOR HARRISON "'V. V.'s Eyes' is a novel of so elevated a spirit, yet of such strong interest, unartificial, and uncritical, that it is obviously a fulfillment of Mr. Harrison's intention to 'create real literature.'"--_Baltimore News._