“News?  I don’t know that I can give you any news.  You probably know that Mrs. Owen went to Fraserville for Christmas with the Bassetts?  Let me see, you do know the Bassetts, don’t you?”

“Yes.  I was at Waupegan three summers ago at Mrs. Owen’s, and Mrs. Bassett and all of them were very good to me.”

“You probably don’t know that I’m employed by Mr. Bassett.  He has an office in Indianapolis where I’m trying to be a lawyer and I do small jobs for him.  I’m doing an errand for him now.  It will be the first time I’ve been east of the mountains since I left college, and I’m going to stop at New Haven on my way home to see how they’re getting on without me.  By the way, you probably know that Marian is going to college?”

“No; I didn’t know it,” exclaimed Sylvia.  “But I knew her mother was interested and I gave her a Wellesley catalogue.  That was a long time ago!”

“That was when you were visiting Mrs. Owen at Waupegan?  I see, said the blind man!”

“What do you see?” asked Sylvia.

“I see Mrs. Bassett and Marian, niece and grandniece respectively, of Aunt Sally Owen; and as I gaze, a stranger bound for college suddenly appears on Mrs. Owen’s veranda, in cap and gown.  Tableau!”

“I don’t see the picture,” Sylvia replied, though she laughed in spite of herself.

“I not only see,” Dan continued, “but I hear the jingle of red, red gold, off stage.”

This was going a trifle too far.  Sylvia shook her head and frowned.

“That isn’t fair, Mr. Harwood, if I guess what you mean.  There’s no reason why Marian shouldn’t go to college.  My going has nothing to do with it.  You have misunderstood the whole matter.”

“Pardon me,” said Dan quickly.  “I mean no unkindness to any of them.  They are all very good to me.  It’s too bad, though, that Marian’s preparation for college hadn’t been in mind until so recently.  It would save her a lot of hard digging now.  I see a good deal of the family; and I’m even aware of Marian’s doings at Miss Waring’s school.  Master Blackford beguiles me into taking him to football games, and I often go with all of them to the theatre when they’re in town.  Mr. Bassett is very busy, and he doesn’t often indulge himself in pleasures.  He’s the kind of man whose great joy is in work—­and he has many things to look after.”

“You are a kind of private secretary to the whole family, then; but you work at the law at the same time?”

Harwood’s face clouded for a moment; she noticed it and was sorry she had spoken; but he said immediately:—­

“Well, I haven’t had much time for the law this winter.  I have more things to do outside than I had expected.  But I fear I need prodding; I’m too prone to wander into other fields.  And I’m getting a good deal interested in politics.  You know Mr. Bassett is one of the leading men in our state.”

“Yes, I had learned that; I suppose he may be Senator or Governor some day.  That makes it all the more important that Marian should be fitted for high station.”