he handed it to her, and the deed to Mr. Crane.
"You see," said he, "we have the deed all ready for you."

"Yes," said Scattergood, stepping through the door. "I had it fixed up
for you. I aim to be prompt when I'm tendin' to my wife's business
matters. Gentlemen, I guess you hain't met Mrs. Baines real proper
yet...."

It was not a happy moment for Messrs. Crane and Keith, but they
weathered it, not suavely, not with complete dignity, but after a
fashion.... Their departure might, perhaps, have been termed brusque.

"Well, Scattergood," said Mandy, "it was a real good deal."

"The way you h'isted 'em to fifty thousand was what got my eye," he
said, proudly. "I wouldn't 'a' had the nerve."

"I knew they'd pay it," she said. "Seems like a reasonable profit,
though the land's been a-layin' there unproductive for thirty year.
Father, he give a thousand dollars for it, and the taxes must 'a' been a
couple of thousand more. Say forty-seven thousand dollars profit...."

"And I come out of the other deals perty fair. Made twenty-three
thousand off of the options, and nine or ten off of the other things.
Guess the Baines family's a matter of seventy-five thousand dollars
richer by a good day's work."

"But it can't lay idle," she said.

"Not a minnit. We'll buy that sixty thousand acres 'way back up the
river for sixty-six cents, like we planned, and have some workin'
capital.... And, Mandy, Crane and Keith hain't got that timber for
keeps. It's comin' back to us some of these days. I feel it in my
bones...."

"Kind of a nice wind-up for our honeymoon," said Mrs. Baines,
practically.

CHAPTER III

THE MOUNTAIN COMES TO SCATTERGOOD

Scattergood Baines was on his way to the city! An exclamation point
deserves to be placed after this because it rightly belongs in a class
with the statement that the mountain was coming to Mohammed. Scattergood
had fully as much in common with cities as eels with the Desert of
Sahara.

He had not started the journey brashly, on impulse, but after debate and
discussion with Mandy, his wife. Mandy's conclusion was that if
Scattergood _had_ to go to the city he might as well get at it and have
it over, exercising the care of an exceedingly prudent man in the
circumstances, and following minutely advice that would be forthcoming
from _her_. Undoubtedly, she thought, he could manage the matter and
return to Coldriver unscathed.

So Scattergood was clambering into the stage--his