de had looking unnaturally pale in the greenish
light from without.

"An option," he interposed hurriedly, "must be bought with money;
should you change your mind later you lose whatever you have paid.
Let me advise you--"

Deacon Whittle cleared his throat with an angry, rasping sound.

"Me an' this young lady came here this morning for the purpose of
transacting a little business, mutually advantageous," he snarled.
"If it was anybody but the dominie, I should say he was butting in
without cause."

"Oh, don't, please!" begged the girl. "Mr. Elliot meant it kindly,
I'm sure. I--I want an option, if you please. You'll let me have it,
won't you? I want it--now."

Deacon Whittle blinked and drew back a pace or two, as if her
eagerness actually frightened him.

"I--I guess I can accommodate ye," he stuttered; "but--there'll be
some preliminaries--I wa'n't exactly prepared-- There's the price of
the property and the terms-- S'pose likely you'll want a
mortgage--eh?"

He rubbed his bristly chin dubiously.

"I want to buy the house," Lydia said. "I want to be sure--"

"Have you seen the rooms upstairs?" asked the minister, turning his
back upon his senior deacon.

She shook her head.

"Well, then, why not--"

Wesley Elliot took a step or two toward the winding stair, dimly seen
through the gloom of the hall.

"Hold on, dominie, them stairs ain't safe!" warned the Deacon.
"They'll mebbe want a little shoring up, before-- Say, I wish--"

"I don't care to go up now, really," protested the girl. "It--it's
the location I like and--"

She glanced about the desolate place with a shiver. The air of the
long-closed rooms was chilly, despite the warmth of the June day
outside.

"I'll tell you what," said the deacon briskly. "You come right along
down to the village with me, Miss Orr. It's kind of close in here;
the house is built so tight, there can't no air git in. I tell you,
them walls--"

He smote the one nearest him with a jocular palm. There followed the
hollow sound of dropping plaster from behind the lath.

"Guess we'd better fix things up between us, so you won't be noways
disappointed in case that other party--" he added, with a crafty
glance at the minister. "You see, he might turn up 'most any day."

"Oh, yes!" exclaimed the girl, walking hurriedly to the door. "I--I
should like to go at once."

She turned and held out her hand to the minister with a smile.

"Thank you for coming," she said. "I