see how I could get away. Make it Febru-
ary, Annie dear. A few weeks more or less
can make no difference to you, but they
make a good deal of difference to me."

The woman to whom this was written read
it with something like anger. "I don't be-
lieve he's so impatient for me!" she said
to herself. "What he wants is to get the
crops in on time." But she changed the date
of their wedding, and made it February.

Their wedding journey was only from
the Illinois village where she lived to their
Nebraska farm. They had never been much
together, and they had much to say to each
other.

"Farming won't come hard to you," Jim
assured her. "All one needs to farm with
is brains."

"What a success you'll make of it!" she
cried saucily.

"I wish I had my farm clear," Jim went
on; "but that's more than any one has
around me. I'm no worse off than the rest.
We've got to pay off the mortgage, Annie."