his time?" demanded Hannah.

"He's just gone."

"I met him out here. What in creation did you rig him up in your old
shawl for, Sylvy Crane?"

"He was in his shirt-sleeves, an' I wasn't goin' to have him catch
his death of cold," replied Sylvia with dignity.

"In his shirt-sleeves!"

"Yes, he run out just as he was."

"Land sakes!" said Hannah. The two women looked at each other.
Suddenly Hannah threw out her arms from under her shawl, and clasped
Sylvia. "Oh, Sylvy," she sobbed out, "to think you was settin' out
for the poor-house this mornin', an' we havin' a weddin' last night,
an' never knowin' it! Why didn't you say anythin' about it, why
didn't you, Sylvy?"

"I knew you couldn't do anything, Hannah."

"Knew I couldn't do anything! Do you suppose me or Sarah would have
let all the sister we've got go to the poor-house whilst we had a
roof over our heads? We'd took you right in, either one of us."

"I was afraid Silas an' Cephas wouldn't be willin'."

"I guess they'd had to be willin'. I told Silas just now that if
Richard Alger didn't come forward like a man, you was comin' to my
house, an' have the best we've got as long as you lived. Silas, he
said he thought you'd ought to earn your own livin', an' I told him
there wa'n't any chance for a woman like you to earn your livin' in
Pembroke, that you could earn your livin' enough livin' at your own
sister's. Oh, Sylvy, I can't stand it, when I think of your startin'
out that way, an' never sayin' a word." Hannah sobbed convulsively on
her sister's shoulder. There were tears in Sylvia's eyes, but her
face above her sister's head was radiant. "Don't, Hannah," she said.
"It's all over now, you know."

"Is he--goin' to have you now--Sylvy?"

"I guess so, maybe," said Sylvia.

"I suppose you'll go to his house, this is so run down."

"He's goin' to fix this one up."

"You think you'd rather live here, then? Well, I s'pose I should. I
s'pose he's goin' to buy it. The town hadn't ought to ask much. Sylvy
Crane, I can't get it through my head, nohow."

"What?" said Sylvia.

"How you run out this nice place so quick. I thought an' Sarah
thought you'd got enough to last you jest as long as you lived, an'
have some left to leave then."

Hannah stood back and looked at her sister sharply.

"I've always been as savin' as I knew how," said Sylvia.

"Well, I dunno but you have. You got that sofa, that cost
considerable. I shouldn't have thought you'd got t