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"I am proud to answer, Yes." You don't look like the subject of a woman ruler." Why not?" Because you seem like a sovereign in your own right."

"So I am, in America." I mean to be a sovereign American, myself, some day;

He laughed and shook his head.

"I hope you are never going to become one of those discontented women whom I Ve heard of in America, who are engaged in a perpetual quarrel with their Creator because they were not born men."

"Have you seen such women in America, sir?"

"No; but I have read some newspapers that made the charge."

"Do you believe everything that you read in the papers? Daddie don't."

"I can't say that I do."

"Gkxl understands what He is about when He creates a girl, sir; and God didn't create us to be the vassals of anybody. All we ask is a chance to do our best in everything, ourselves being the judges as to what that best shall be."

"How old are you?"

"Almost sixteen."

"You act with the charm of a child, but you talk like a gprown-up woman. Are all the g^rls of your family equally clever?"

"God never made two trees, or even two leaves of a tree, exactly alike. You couldn't expect two persons to be alike."

The stranger, t:onscious of a peculiar interest in this new and original character, felt a tumultuous sensation in the region of his heart.

"I am hungry, sir. * But as I haven't any money, I must ask you to trust me till to-morrow."

He was leading her toward his dugout as they talked.