ely you won't have any appetite for cold victuals,
and you'll conclude not to eat at all till the next meal comes round.
And that's the way it is with these long courtin's. Folks' feelin's cool
just like a meal does. Many a couple gets tired of each other after
they're married, and there's such a thing as gettin' tired of each other
before you're married."

Mrs. Martin was listening with rapt intentness. The gift of fluent
speech was not hers. She could only think and feel, but it was a delight
to listen to one who knew how to express thoughts and feelings in
language that went straight to the mark.

"I've always thought that way," she said with gentle fervor, as her
visitor paused for breath.

"Well," continued Mrs. Williams, "I made up my mind some time ago that
Henry and Anna Belle had been sayin' grace long enough, and it was time
for them to marry, if they ever intended to marry. And I also made up my
mind to find out what was the matter. Of course I couldn't ask Anna
Belle why Henry didn't marry her. There's some things that no mother's
got a right to speak of to her child, and this is one of 'em; and I
couldn't say anything to Henry, for that would 'a' been a thousand
times worse, but I says to myself: 'I've got a right to know what's the
matter, and I'm goin' to know.'"

Mrs. Martin was leaning forward, listening breathlessly. There was a
faint flush on her cheek, and her eyes were the eyes of a young girl who
is reading the first pages of a romance. Her son's love affair had been
the central point of interest in her life for a year past. But Henry was
a taciturn youth, and her delicacy forbade questioning; so, in spite of
the deep affection between the two, the rise and progress of her son's
courtship was an unknown story to her. Two nights in every week Henry
would take his way to the home of the girl he loved, and as she sat
alone waiting for his return, and living over the days of her own
courtship, she had felt a wistful, unresentful envy of Mrs. Williams
because of her nearness to the lovers. The long wooing had been a
mystery to her also, and now the mystery was about to be explained.

"I've wondered, myself, why they didn't marry," she said hesitatingly.

Mrs. Williams hitched her chair nearer to her hostess.

"And what do you reckon I did?" she asked, dropping her voice to a husky
whisper.

"I can't imagine," responded Mrs. Martin, repressed excitement in her
voice and face.

Mrs. Williams le