ver very
attractive--everybody does--but he seemed to me to be selfish and
undisciplined, and I wasn't at all sure that Jinny was the kind of woman
to bring out the best in him."

"You'll think so when you see them together."

Then they smiled and parted, Mrs. Pendleton hurrying back to the little
house, while Susan turned down Old Street, in the direction of her home.
She walked rapidly, with an easy swinging pace seldom seen in the women
of Dinwiddie, and not heartily approved by the men. At twenty-seven she
was far handsomer than she had been at twenty, for her figure had grown
more shapely and her face had lost the look of intense preoccupation
which had once marred its charm. Strong, capable, conquering, she still
appeared; but in some subtle way she had grown softer. Mrs. Pendleton
would probably have said that she had "settled."

At the first corner she met John Henry on his way to the bank, and
turning, he walked with her to the end of the block, where they stood a
moment discussing Virginia's return.

"I've just been to attend to some bills," he explained; "that's why I'm
out at this hour. You never come into the bank now, I notice."

"Not often. Are you going to see Jinny this evening?"

"If you'll let me bring you home. I can't imagine Virginia with three
children, can you? I'm half afraid to see her again."

"You mean you think she may have changed? Mrs. Pendleton says not."

"Oh, that's Aunt Lucy all over. If Virginia had got as fat as Miss
Priscilla, she'd still believe she hadn't altered a particle."

"Well, she isn't fat, anyway. She weighs less than she ever did."

Her serious eyes dwelt on him under the green sunshade she held, and it
is possible that she wondered vaguely what it was about John Henry that
had made her love him unsought ever since she could remember. He was
certainly not handsome--though he was less stout and much better looking
than he used to be: he was not particularly clever, even if he was
successful with the work Cyrus had given him. She was under no delusion
concerning him (being a remarkably clear-sighted young person), yet she
knew that taking him just as he was, large, slow, kind, good, he aroused
in her a tenderness that was almost ridiculous. She had waited patiently
seven years for him to discover that he cared for her--a fact which had
been perfectly evident to her long before his duller wit had perceived
it.

"Do you want to be there to welcome Jinny?" he aske