ht to interfere. If she wants Justin Ware's
company it's her own business. She's not beholden to me."

"No," snapped Mrs. Gibson. "And why ain't she? Because you've been
shilly-shallying along as though 'twas her business to pop the
question. You men are getting nowadays so you can't do a thing for
yourselves, you just hang back and leave us women to do it all."

Thomas squirmed like an impaled beetle. "Guess I'd better go back into
the store, Nellie. George means well, but he hasn't much of a
head-piece--"

"Thomas Hardin, you stay where you are till I'm done with you. Now
tell me straight. Have you ever asked Persis Dale to marry you?"

"Well, Nellie, to be candid, I never have got really to the point. I
want her to know the worst about me first. I wouldn't take her in for
all the world, and then have her sorry afterward."

"Take her in! Of course, you'll take her in. If all men stopped for
that, weddings would have gone out of fashion long ago. And it's well
for women's peace of mind that they don't have to know the worst about
the men they marry. I'm ashamed of you, Thomas! To think you've got
no more gumption than to stand around like a ninny and let that city
man walk off with the woman you've always wanted."

"If she'd rather marry Justin Ware," Thomas began and failed to finish
his sentence, his voice strangled by his inward anguish. His sister
snorted.

"Good lord! Thomas, a woman's going to marry the man that asks her.
By all accounts that Ware won't be mealy-mouthed. If he wants her,
he'll not stand back and let another man have the first say."

There was a reasonableness in this presentation of the case which
impressed Thomas as his air of irresolution showed.

"Then you think I've got a chance, Nellie?"

His sister groaned her exasperation. "You had all the chance till this
Ware turned up. Of course when a woman's got a choice it makes a
difference. But there's nothing gained by holding off and letting him
have everything his own way. If you don't ask her, of course she'll
take him, provided she gets the chance. And if you do ask her, she may
take you. So you won't lose anything by trying."

As a result of this plain unflattering counsel, Thomas Hardin dressed
that evening with unusual care, and with the approach of darkness
turned his face toward his familiar goal, his emotions befitting a
participant in the charge of the Light Brigade. His throat was
parched, his hea