in the exhibition hall of a large picture of the candidate festooned
with an American flag. It was vaguely remembered that he had been
under Miss Willis, among other teachers, but the whole truth was
unknown to anybody, and Marion's New England conscience shrank from
obtaining glory and sympathy through brag. She hugged her secret, and
bore it with her intact when she took her departure for Washington to
attend the inauguration ceremonies. She did not tell the authorities
where she was going when she asked for a short leave of absence--the
first she had ever requested in all her years of service. She was
setting forth on the spree of her life, and her spirit was jubilant at
the thought of Jimmy's amazement when he found out who she was.

A day came at last, after the new chief magistrate had taken the oaths
of office and was in possession of the White House, when the American
public was at liberty to file past their President and shake his hand
in their might as free men and free women. Miss Willis had not been
able to obtain a location near enough to the inauguration proceedings
to distinguish more than the portly figure of a man, or to hear
anything except the roar of the multitude. But now she was to have the
chance to meet Jimmy face to face and overwhelm him with her secret.
Little by little the file of visitors advanced on its passage toward
the nation's representative, and presently Miss Willis caught her
first glimpse of Sir Galahad--her real Sir Galahad. Her heart throbbed
tumultuously. It was he--her Jimmy; he, beyond the shadow of a doubt;
a strong, grave, resolute man; the prototype of human power and
American intelligence.

Her Jimmy! She let her eyes fall, for it would soon be her turn, and
her nerves were all tingling with a happy mixture of pride and
diffidence. Her vision, her dearest vision, was about to be realized.