the economy of an ignorant demagogy, that no transportation could be
had to supply this sick lady with the ordinary conveniences of life,
and she died in his arms, on the hot prairie, in the shade of an
overloaded baggage wagon. He mourned her with the passing grief one
gives to a comrade fallen on the field of honor. Often since he left
the army, he reproached himself for not have grieved for her more
deeply. "Poor Nellie," he would sometimes say, "how she would have
enjoyed this house, if she had lived to possess it." But he never had
that feeling of widowhood known to those whose lives have been torn
in two.




IV.


PROTECTOR AND PROTEGEE.


A few days later, Mr. Farnham attended a meeting of the library board,
and presented the name of Miss Matchin as a candidate for a subordinate
place in the library. There were several such positions, requiring no
special education or training, the duties of which could be as well
filled by Miss Maud as by any one else. She had sent several strong
letters of recommendation to the board, from prominent citizens who
knew and respected her father, for when Maud informed him of her new
ambition, Matchin entered heartily into the affair, and bestirred
himself to use what credit he had in the ward to assist her.