inward conviction that you're not doing it because
you think Brookville is such a pleasant place to live in," he went
on, keenly observant of the sudden color fluttering in her cheeks,
revealed by the light of Mrs. Solomon Black's parlor lamp which stood
on a stand just inside the carefully screened window. "It looks," he
finished, "as if you--well; it may be a queer thing for me to say;
but I'll tell you frankly that when mother showed me the check she
got today I felt that it was--charity."

She shook her head.

"Oh, no," she said quickly. "You are quite, quite in the wrong."

"But you can't make me believe that with all your money--pardon me
for mentioning what everybody in the village is talking about--
You'll have to convince me that the old Bolton place has oil under
it, or coal or diamonds, before I--"

"Why should you need to be convinced of anything so unlikely?" she
asked, with gentle coldness.

He reddened angrily.

"Of course it's none of my business," he conceded.

"I didn't mean that. But, naturally, I could have no idea of coal or
oil--"

"Well; I won't work for you at any four dollars a day," he said
loudly. "I thought I'd like to tell you."

"I don't want you to," she said. "Didn't Deacon Whittle give you my
message?"

He got hurriedly to his feet with a muttered exclamation.

"Please sit down, Mr. Dodge," she bade him tranquilly. "I've been
wanting to see you all day. But there are so few telephones in
Brookville it is difficult to get word to people."

He eyed her with stubborn resentment.

"What I meant to say was that four dollars a day is too much! Don't
you know anything about the value of money, Miss Orr? Somebody ought
to have common honesty enough to inform you that there are plenty of
men in Brookville who would be thankful to work for two dollars a
day. I would, for one; and I won't take a cent more."

She was frowning a little over these statements. The stalwart young
man in shabby clothes who sat facing her under the light of Mrs.
Solomon Black's well-trimmed lamp appeared to puzzle her.

"But why shouldn't you want to earn all you can?" she propounded at
last. "Isn't there anything you need to use money for?"

"Oh, just a few things," he admitted grudgingly. "I suppose you've
noticed that I'm not exactly the glass of fashion and the mold of
form."

He was instantly ashamed of himself for the crude personality.

"You must think I'm a fool!" burst from him, under the