ideas in his presence. He loosened his hands from the yarn, and took
a seat by the window. His aunt's misgivings had evidently so thoroughly
disturbed him that for an instant I could see traces of a certain
offended dignity, coupled with a nervous anxiety lest her inquiries
had shaken my own confidence in his scheme.

He began at once to reassure me. There was nothing to be uneasy about.
Look at the bonds! Note the perfect safety of the plan of finance--the
earlier coupons omitted, the subsequent peace of the investor! The
peculiar location of the road, with the ancestral estates dotted along
its line! The dignity of the several stations! He could hear them now
in his mind called out as they whistled down brakes: "Carter Hall!
Barboursville! Talcott!" No; there was nothing about the road that
should disturb his aunt. For all that a still more anxious look came
into his face. He began pacing the floor, buried in deep thought, his
thumbs hooked behind his back. At last he stopped and took her hand.

"Dear Nancy, if anything should happen to you it would break my heart.
Don't be angry, it is only the major; but yo' talk with him has so
disturbed me that I am determined to secure you against personal loss."

Miss Nancy raised her eyes wonderingly. She evidently did not catch
his meaning.

"You have been good enough, my dear, to advance me certain sums of
money which I still owe. I want to pay these now."

"But, George, you"--

"My dearest Nancy,"--and he stooped down, and kissed her cheek,--"I