Book IV -- The Pioneer Woman's Story

IV-I

Two years after I left Lincoln I completed
my academic course at Harvard. Before I en-
tered the Law School I went home for the
summer vacation. On the night of my arrival
Mrs. Harling and Frances and Sally came
over to greet me. Everything seemed just
as it used to be. My grandparents looked
very little older. Frances Harling was mar-
ried now, and she and her husband managed
the Harling interests in Black Hawk. When
we gathered in grandmother's parlor, I could
hardly believe that I had been away at all.
One subject, however, we avoided all eve-
ning.

When I was walking home with Frances,
after we had left Mrs. Harling at her gate,
she said simply, "You know, of course, about
poor Antonia."

Poor Antonia! Every one would be saying
that now, I thought bitterly. I replied that

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