They were gray eyes, deep set, and, at this moment, kindly. They could
blaze, however, in stress of fighting, like bits of steel. "We all
have to face it in one way or another. And the future of America
depends largely on our seeing things straight."

"Well, there's only one way for Randy to face it," said Caroline Paine,
firmly, "and that is to do as his fathers did before him."

"If I do," Randy flared, "it will be three years before I can make a
living, and I'll be twenty-five."

Becky put on the chaplet of leaves. It fitted like a cap. She might
have been a dryad, escaped for a moment from the old oak. "Three years
isn't long."

"Suppose I should want to marry----"

"Oh, you--Randy----"

"But why shouldn't I?"

"I don't want you to get married," she told him; "when I come down we
couldn't have our nice times together. You'd always be thinking about
your wife."


IV

From the porch of the Country Club, George Dalton had seen the Judge's
party at luncheon. According to George's lexicon no one who could