clearer view than she of ultimate ends, past the
petty wayside advantages of these skilful doublings and turnings.

She could deal with details with little taper-finger touches of
nicety, but she could not judge as well as he of generalities and the
final scope of combinations. It was doubtful if Abigail ever fairly
appreciated her own punch.

"Abigail," said the Squire, looking down at her, his great bearded
face all slyly quirked with humor--"Abigail, look here. There are a
good many things that you and I can do, and a few that we can't do. I
can fish and shoot and ride with any man in the county, and bluster
folks into doing what I want them to mostly, if I keep my temper; and
as for you--you know what you can do in the way of fine stitching,
and punch-making, and house-keeping, and you and I together have got
the best, and the handsomest, and the most blessed"--the Squire's
voice broke--"daughter in the county, by the Lord Harry we have. I
can shoot any man who looks askance at her, I can lie down in the mud
for her to walk over to keep her little shoes dry, and you can fix
her pretty gowns and keep her curls smooth, and watch her lest she
breathe too fast or too slow of a night, but there we've got to stop.
You can't make the posies in your garden any color you have a mind,
my girl, and I can't change the spots on the trout I land. We can't,
either of us, make a sunset, or a rainbow, or stop a thunder-storm,
or raise an east wind. There are things we run up blind against, and
I reckon this is one of 'em. It's got to come out the way it will,
and you and I can't hinder it, Abigail."

"We can hinder that poor boy from having his heart broken."

The Squire whistled. "Lock the stable-door after the colt is stolen,
eh?"

"Eben Merritt, what do you mean?"

"I mean that the boy comes here now an then, not courting the girl,
as I take it, at all, and shows so far no signs of anything amiss,
and had, in my opinion, best be let alone. Lord, when I was his age,
if a girl like Lucina had been in the question, and anybody had tried
to rein me up short, I'd have kicked over the breeches entirely. I'd
have either got her or blown my brains out. That boy can take care of
himself, anyhow. He'll stop coming here of his own accord, if he
thinks he'd better."

Abigail sniffed scornfully with her thin nostrils.

"Wait and see," said the Squire.

"I shall wait a long time before I see," she said, but she was
mistaken. The v