And if Bob Hendricks wants to come back here and live on the succulent and classic bean and the luscious, and I may say tempting, flapjack, let him come, Molly Farquhar Culpepper, let him come." The colonel, proud of his language, looked around the family circle.

"And we at our humble board, with our plain though--shall I say nutritive--yes, nutritive and wholesome fare, should thank our lucky stars that John Barclay keeps the Golden Belt Wheat Company going, and your husband and father can make a more or less honest dollar now and then to supply your simple wants." The colonel had more in his mind, for he rose and began to pace the floor in a fine frenzy.

But Mrs.Culpepper looked up for an instant from her tea, and said, "You know you forgot the mail to-day, father," and he replied, "Yes, that's so." Then added: "Molly dear, will you bring me my overcoat--please ?" The girl bundled her father into his threadbare blue army overcoat with the cape.

He stood for a moment absently rattling some dimes in his pocket.

Then the faintness of their jingle must have appealed to him, for he drew a long breath and walked majestically away.