hour's walk with the school-master and the three half-hours that his meals
kept him away. He grew so pale and thin that the Major and Caleb Hazel were
greatly worried, but protest from both was useless. Before the end of the term
he had mounted into college in every study, and was holding his own. At the
end he knew his power--knew what he COULD do, and his face was set, for his
future, dauntless. When vacation came, he went at once to the Major's farm,
but not to be idle. In a week or two he was taking some of the reins into his
own hands as a valuable assistant to the Major. He knew a good horse, could
guess the weight of a steer with surprising accuracy, and was a past master in
knowledge of sheep. By instinct he was canny at a trade--what mountaineer is
not?--and he astonished the Major with the shrewd deals he made. Authority
seemed to come naturally to him, and the Major swore that he could get more
work out of the "hands" than the overseer himself, who sullenly resented
Chad's interference, but dared not open his lips. Not once did he go to the
Deans', and neither Harry nor Dan came near him. There was little intercourse
between the Major and the General, as well; for, while the Major could not,
under the circumstances, blame the General, inconsistently, he could not quite
forgive him, and the line of polite coolness between the neighbors was never
overstepped. At the end of July, Chad went to the mountains to see the Turners
and Jack and Melissa. He wore his roughest clothes, put on no airs, and, to
all eyes, save Melissa's, he was the same old Chad. But feminine subtlety
knows no social or geographical lines, and while Melissa knew what had
happened as well as Chad, she never let him see that she knew. Apparently she
was giving open encouragement to Dave Hilton, a tawny youth from down the
river, who was hanging, dog-like, about the house, and foolish Chad began to
let himself dream of Margaret with a light heart. On the third day before he
was to go back to the Bluegrass, a boy came from over Black Mountain with a
message from old Nathan Cherry. Old Nathan had joined the church, had fallen
ill, and, fearing he was going to die, wanted to see Chad. Chad went over with
curious premonitions that were not in vain, and he came back with a strange