Page:Hugh Pendexter--The young timber-cruisers.djvu/256

 Her lips quivered for a moment, and then she explained, “Father has about recovered his health now and would like to obtain a situation in Colorado, where he has many friends. The climate there would agree with him. But he has been out of the harness for four years and finds it hard work to get a place right away.”

“But why don’t you go out there and live till he gets an opening?” asked Stanley.

Laura flushed, but frankly explained, “We are poor. College professors do not get exorbitant salaries in this country. When my father was taken ill he was forced to find employment even while trying to regain his health. Fortunately he procured this work, which pays a living while making him a well man. But we have no means with which to board anywhere unless he has employment.”

“I beg your pardon for asking what I did,” humbly apologized Stanley. “I meant all right, and it’s a shame that a man as good and wise as your father should be dependent on a salary for a living.”

“He’s the wisest man in the world,” she murmured, clasping her hands in front of her. “The very wisest. He ought to be at the head of a-college—a big college.”