upon
them set forth to communicate by word of mouth the scandalous
proceedings they had witnessed; and long before midnight all the
village knew. The women crept cautiously at a good distance behind
Dorothy and Eugene out of the lane, and watched, with incredulous
eyes turning to each other for confirmation, the pair walk into
Parson Fair's house together. Then they could do no more, since their
ears were not long enough, and each went her way to tell what she had
seen.

All the neighbors knew when Eugene Hautville left Parson Fair's
house that afternoon, but their knowledge stopped there. Nobody
ever discovered just what was said within those four walls when
Dorothy--who, soft plumaged though she was, had flown in the
faces of all her decorous feminine antecedents and her goodly
teaching--confronted her father with her new lover at her side.

It was safe enough to assume, for one who knew her and them well,
that the two men did finally turn and protect her and shelter her
each against himself, and his own despite, as well as one another.
After that Eugene Hautville was seen every Sunday night and twice in
the week going into Parson Fair's house, and the candles burned late
in the north parlor.

The banns were published in a month's time. Some accounted it
unseemly haste, after the other banns which had come to naught, and
some said 'twas better so, and they blamed not Parson Fair for
placing such a flighty and jilting maid safe within the pale of
wedlock--and they guessed he was thankful enough to find a husband
for her, even if 'twas one of the Hautvilles.

However, Eugene was held in somewhat more of esteem than the others,
since he had in his own right a snug little sum in bank which had
come to him from an uncle whose name he bore. When it was known that
Eugene had bought the old Squire Damon place, a goodly house with a
box-bordered front walk, and a pillared front door, and would take
his bride home to it, public favor became quite strong for him. Folk
opined that he would, even if he was a Hautville, make full as good a
husband as Burr, and that Dorothy Fair would have the best of the
bargain all around. While many held Dorothy in slight esteem for her
instability and delicacy, and thought she was no desirable helpmeet
for any man, some were of the opinion that she had shown praiseworthy
judgment and shrewdness in jilting Burr for Eugene.

Dorothy this time made small show of her wedding, and was married