take care of you then, I think. Meanwhile we will all help you to take
care of yourself. You don't look well."

She kissed his cheek and he kissed hers when they parted at the door of
the tavern.

"I am sure I shall love you," she whispered.

"Those are the best words that ever came to my ears," he answered, and
left her with a solemn sense of his commitment.

Soon after that Abe went to the north line of the county to do some
surveying, and on his return, in the last week of May, came out for a
talk with the Traylors.

"I've been up to the Kelsos' home and had a wonderful talk with him and
Brimstead," said Abe. "They have discovered each other. Kelso lives in a
glorious past and Brimstead in a golden future. They're both poets. Kelso
is translating the odes of Pindar. Brimstead is constructing the future
of Illinois. They laugh at each other and so create a fairly agreeable
present."

"Did you see Annabel?" Harry asked.

"About sixty times a minute while I was there. So pretty you can't help
looking at her. She's coming down to visit Ann, I hope. If you don't see
her every day she's here, I shall lose my good opinion of you. It will be
a sure sign that your eyes don't know how, to enjoy themselves."

"We shall all see her and fall in love with her, too, probably," said
Sarah.

"She's made on the right pattern of the best material," Abe went on.
"She's full of fun and I thought it would be a great thing for Ann. She
hasn't had any one to play with of her own age and standing since Bim
went away. I was thinking of Harry, too. He needs somebody to play with."

"Much obliged!" the young man exclaimed. "I was thinking that I'd have to
take a trip to Hopedale, myself."

"I knew he'd come around," Sarah laughed.

But all unknown to these good people, the divinities were at that moment
very busy.

That was the 26th of May, 1835, a date of much importance in the calendar
of the Traylors. It had been a clear, warm day, followed by a cloudless,
starry night, with a chilly breeze blowing. Between eleven and twelve
o'clock Sarah and Samson were awakened by the hoot of an owl in the
dooryard. In a moment they heard three taps on a window-pane. They knew
what it meant. Both got out of bed and into their clothes as quickly as
possible. Samson lighted a candle and put some wood on the fire. Then he
opened the door with the candle in his hand. A stalwart, good-looking
mulatto man, with a smooth shaven face, stood in th