“You will have to show me,” said Percy.

“Will you accept his invitation?”

“Oh, Mr. West always closes his letters with an invitation for me to visit them if I ever come East.  There is nothing exceptional or unusual in that.”

“The letter is very exceptional,” she repeated, “insomuch that if there is no understanding there is no misunderstanding, and if there is some misunderstanding there was no intention.  When Mrs. Barton says:  ‘Do come over when you can,’ there is no invitation intended and no acceptance expected; but when Mrs. McKnight says:  ’Can’t you and your son come over and take supper with us Thursday evening,’—­well that is an invitation to come.  In the case of Mr. West’s letter, perhaps you had an invitation to spend the Easter vacation at Westover when his daughter will be at home,—­and perhaps not.”

Percy was silent and his mother quietly waited.

“In any case,” he said, “I cannot afford to go this spring.  We never were so short of funds.  I almost begrudged the railroad fare I paid to go to the Institute.”

“I have agreed to agree with you regarding the matter of hiring more help on the farm if you need it,” she said; “for it is easily possible to lose by saving.  There are some things which should never be influenced by financial considerations.  It is more than three years since your Eastern trip.  You need a rest and a change.  It would be entirely commonplace for you to spend the Easter time in Virginia.  You ought to see the country in the spring; and you ought especially to be interested in Mr. West’s sixty acres of alfalfa.  Expectations are always followed either by realization or by disappointment, either of which my noble son can bear.”

Her fingers passed through his hair as she kissed his forehead.

“The only question is, whether you would enjoy a visit to Westover,” she continued.  “You have insisted that the Winterbine deposit remain in my name, but I have written and signed a check against that reserve for $100, and you have only to fill in the date and draw the amount at the County Seat whenever you wish.  If you go, express my regards to the ladies, and especially remember me to the grandmother.”

CHAPTER XLI

THE KINDERGARTEN

HEART-OF-EGYPT, ILLINOIS,

November 9, 1909.

Hon. James J. Hill,

Great Northern Railroad Company, St. Paul, Minnesota.

MY DEAR SIR:—­I have read with very great interest your article in the November World’s Work on “What We Must Do to be Fed.”  I wonder if you read The American Farm Review! In the editorial columns of that journal, issue of October 28, 1909, occurs the following: