u, not
me, I was speaking when--"

"Yes, I know. Well, I'm speakin' about you now. Heman saw you buyin'
them vegetables. Tomatters, wa'n't they?"

"Perhaps so. Have you been drinking? What difference does it make
whether we bought tomatoes or potatoes?"

"Didn't make none--to me. But I bet Heman didn't like to see you two
buyin' tomatters."

"For heaven's sake, why not?"

"Oh, 'cause he probably remembered, same as I did, what folks used to
call 'em in the old days."

"You HAVE been drinking! What did they use to call them?"

"Love apples," replied Captain Obed, and strode away chuckling. John
watched him go. He, too, laughed at first, but his laugh broke off in
the middle and when he went into the house his expression was troubled
and serious.

One remark of the captain's was true enough; John Kendrick's popularity
with his professional rival was growing daily less. The pair were
scrupulously polite to each other, but they seldom spoke except when
others were present, and Mr. Daniels made it a point apparently to be
present whenever Miss Howes was in the room. He continued to bring his
little offerings of fruit and flowers and his invitations for drives
and picnics and entertainments at the town hall were more frequent.
Sometimes Emily accepted these invitations; more often she refused them.
John also occasionally invited her to drive with him or to play tennis
on his cousin's courts, and these invitations she treated as she did
Heman's, refusing some and accepting others. She treated the pair
with impartiality and yet Thankful was growing to believe there was a
difference. Imogene, outspoken, expressed her own feelings in the matter
when she said,

"Miss Emily likes Mr. Kendrick pretty well, don't she, ma'am?"

Thankful regarded her maidservant with disapproval.

"What makes you say that, Imogene?" she demanded. "Of course she likes
him. Why shouldn't she?"

"She should, ma'am. And she does, too. And he likes her; that's plain
enough."

"Imogene, what are you hintin' at? Do you mean that my cousin is in--in
love with Mr. John Kendrick?"

"No'm. I don't say that, not yet. But there's signs that--"

"Signs! If you don't get those ridiculous story-book notions out of
your head I don't know what I'll do to you. What do you know about folks
bein' in love? You ain't in love, I hope; are you?"

Imogene hesitated. "No, ma'am," she replied. "I ain't. But--but maybe I
might be, if I wanted to."

"For mer