place where he could live in peace with those he loved, and after all
that would be a great deal.




VII

HOW A LITTLE WOMAN DID A GREAT DEED TO SAVE THE CITY


A fortnight earlier Mrs. Overholt had been much disturbed in her mind,
for she read each of her husband's letters over at least three times,
and Newton's fortnightly scrawls even oftener, because it was less easy
to make them out; but she had understood one thing very well, and that
was that there was no more money for the invention, and very little cash
for the man and the boy to live on. If she had known what a dreadful
mistake John Henry had made about debit and credit, the little woman
would have been terribly anxious; but as it was, she was quite unhappy
enough.

Overholt had written repeatedly of his attempts to raise just a little
more money with which to finish the invention, and he had explained very
clearly what there was to do, and somehow she had always believed in the
idea, because he had invented that beautiful scientific instrument with
which his name was connected, but she was almost sure that in working
out his theory he was quite on the wrong track. She did not really
understand the engine at all, but she was quite certain that when a
thing was going to succeed, it succeeded from the first, without many
hitches or drawbacks. Most women are like that.