ed.

"Yes, sir; he's the smartest boy in this town," assented the Squire,
with a nod of enthusiasm.

Not long after they emerged from the woods into the road they reached
Jennings's house, and he left his friends.

The Colonel lived some quarter of a mile farther on. He had reached
his gate, when he said, abruptly, to the Squire, "Look here, Eben,
you remember a talk we had once about Jerome Edwards and your girl?"

The Squire stared at him. "Yes; why?"

"Nothing, only seeing him just now set me to wondering if you were
still of the same mind about it."

"If being willing that Lucina should have the man she sets her heart
on is the same mind, of course I am; but, good Lord, Jack, that's all
over! He hasn't been to the house for a year, and Lucina never thinks
of him!"

Colonel Lamson laughed wheezily. "Well, that's all I wanted to know,
Eben."

"What made you ask me that?" asked the Squire, suspiciously.

"Nothing; seeing Jerome and his mill brought it to mind. Well, I'll
be along to-night."

"That's all over," the Squire called out again to the Colonel, going
slowly up the hill to the house door. However, when he got home, he
questioned Abigail.

"I haven't heard Lucina mention Jerome Edwards's name for months,"
said she, "and he never comes here; but she seems perfectly contented
and happy. I think that's all over."

"I thought so," said Eben.

Abigail was preparing the punch, for the Squire expected his friends
that evening. Jennings came first; some time after Means and Lamson
arrived. They had a strange air of grave excitement and elation.

When the game of cards was fairly under way, the Colonel played in a
manner which confused them all.

"By the Lord Harry, Jack, this is the third time you've thrown away
an honor!" the Squire roared out, finally. "Is it the punch that's
gone to your head?"

"No, Eben," replied the Colonel, in a hoarse voice, with solemn and
oratorical cadences, as if he rose to address a meeting. "It is not
the punch. I am _used_ to punch. It is money. I've just had word
that--that old mining stock I bought when I was in the service, and
haven't thought worth more than a New England sheep farm, has been
sold for sixty-five thousand dollars."

Chapter XXXIV

The next week Colonel Lamson went to Boston, and took his friend John
Jennings with him. Whether the trip was purely a business one, or was
to be regarded in the light of a celebration of the Colonel's good
f