Concerning Sally

cordingly and she watched her father closely. But he did not seem to care whether trains ever ran or not. His pleasant mood lasted, too: the mood of light banter, in which he appeared to care

th at first, while she waited for it to pass. It would have been a relief-yes,

as she should have been always. Children have a right to happiness-to freedom from real worries-as far as we can compass that end; and

ight have been so very much worse. He might have beaten her. He had been accustomed to beat her, figuratively, for some years. At first, too, her head seemed rea

ened to be handy, and wept. A strange thing to do! "Oh, mother

"There darling!" she said softly. "There, m

ng-with Henrietta, Fox sometimes sat with her mother. Mrs. Ladue became very fond of Fox. He didn't talk much, nor did she. Indeed, Sally thought, in that fit of retrospection, that Fox had seemed to be watching her m

king seriously at

better, on the whole. I should think she ought t

a low voice, "you-I

eyond my limited knowledge, and some one who really knows should see y

urn, for a long time, her

g, "I shall have to speak to

d, Sally, remember, if he doesn't receive the

you know now. He may," she added doubtfully. "He has been nice for a long time."

, and let me know

oreseen? It was as likely that, at the worst, she but hastened her father'

," Sally began soberly, "don't you think tha

faster, as she spoke, there

her chuckle. But, deuce take it, there was no knowing what that confounded child would say next. It was presuming upon his good na

eft unsaid. It was astonishing how often that happened. The professor was aware of it!-uncomfortably aware-and the knowledge annoyed him the more. The professor was to be excused. It is most unpleasant to have one's naked soul exposed to the v

et Sally's eyes without speaking the truth. "What is the matter

"Her headaches. The

a wave of his hand. "Everybody

plied, "and she doesn't

ly, "is to be found in the dictionary, I have

had not spoken, "that mother ought to see a

before. "So you would like to have a specia

you call them," Sally returned b

ing!" He got a cigarette from the drawer and proceeded to beat out some of t

a suspicion of a quiver in Sally

your opinion of his knowledge, or

not have spoken, even if the q

at a specialist

k her he

ly, "which would be nuts to him, I have no doubt, his charg

Sally urged. "It is ve

e." He made her a bow. "No specialists for this family. If your mother feels

d to go wit

at important matters at the college require my attention. She is not t

again. She went out quietly, feeling responsible. It was absurd, of course, but she could

ng about it, at the time. She had not indulged a hope of anything else, and had gone to bed and to sleep as usual. For Sally was a healthy little animal, and she was asleep in a very few minutes after her head had touched the pillow. Her eyes may have been wet. Mr

not too sympathetically. That seemed to him to be the best way to treat it. He would have made light of i

x, please,

ut don't you worry, Sally. We'll have

" she

wer of a great mind to the question. When I've found t

ond the stage of thinking that Fox could do a

t and Sally standing on a bar and swinging it

," she said sudden

Sally." Fox checked

e gate almost immediately. Sally had dismounted. He

g," said Fox

If the professor had chanced to turn one of those smiles upon a too confiding dog

or acidly. "I shall be obliged t

is convenient for you." And

he was unshaven, and-well, tousled. In short, the profess

nly. Her father was out of