"But now?" somebody queried.

"Oh, now, she'll be sensible, and the Professor will take
advantage of `now.' He won't wait till it's too late.
Great hat! there goes the bell."

And the girls scuttled away.

Vic came in and sat down by the window through which one may find
an empire for the looking.

"Burgess was right," he said to himself.

I'm not only ill-bred on the outside, I'm that way clear through.
A disreputable eavesdropper! That's my size. But I didn't mean it.
Fine excuse!" He frowned in disgust, and turned to the window.

The Thanksgiving weather was still blessing the Walnut Valley. Wide away
beyond Lagonda Ledge rolled the free open prairies, swept by the free air
of heaven under a beneficent sky.

As Vic gazed his stern face softened, and the bulldog look, that he had
worn since the night of the storm, relaxed before some gentler mood.
The brown eyes held a strange glow under the long black lashes,
as if a new purpose were growing up in the soul behind them.

"No limit out there. It's a FREE LAND," he murmured. "There shall be
no limit in here." Unconsciously he struck his breast with his fist.
"There's freedom for such as I am somewhere."