Of course I knowed he wa' kinder 'sponsible
fer Miss Ann, an' I ain't never blamed him none, but I sho' wa' glad
ter see him when he come walkin' in las' Wednesday an' jes' tol' me he
wa' a needin' me an' he had a home er his own with a po'ch an' all.
An' so we got ma'id."

Old Billy had realized his dream at last--a house he could call his
own, with a porch and geraniums growing on it, and married to Mandy.
It mattered not to him that he was her fifth venture in matrimony.

"Come next summer, we'll have a box of portulac a bloomin' befo' the
house," he said to Judith. "I'm pretty nigh scairt ter be gittin' so
many blessings ter onct. Sometimes I kinder pinch myself ter see if I
ain't daid an' gone ter Heaben."

CHAPTER XXV

Uncle Billy Smiles

Judith stood on the platform, swinging her cooler of buttermilk as a
signal to the six-thirty trolley to stop and be fed. Thanks to the
help of Aunt Mandy and Uncle Billy she had been able to furnish
dinners to the motormen and conductors all during the snows of winter
and the rains of spring. It was June again, and a year since she began
keeping what she called a basket boarding-house. It had proved a
profitable business. At the same time she had the undying gratitude
and admiration of her boarders.

The trolley stopped and eager hands relieved her of the basket and
cooler. A young man swung from the platform of the rear car. Aunt
Mandy had fried the chicken and Judith had not had to hurry to meet
the six-thirty, so there was no excuse for the heightened color of her
cheeks when she saw it was Jeff Bucknor.

"In time to carry your 'empties'," he said, taking the basket from
her. "Are you glad to see me?"

"Yes!"

"Very glad?"

"Yes, very glad!"

They followed the path through the beech grove. "Can't we sit down a
minute?" begged the young man. Judith complied. It was a venerable
tree that sheltered them, with dense foliage on twisted limbs, the
lower ones almost touching the ground.

"I so often think of this tree and this mossy bank," said Jeff. "I
have been wondering all the way up from Louisville if you would sit
here with me a while."

"You might have employed your time better."

"Yes, I might have wondered what you were giving the motormen for
dinner. Judith, will you do me a favor? Please put down that milk can.
I want to ask you something and I'd be much happier and feel much
safer if you'd let the buttermilk can roll down the hill. There now,