hed up with sharp anxiety. "I have been
expecting to hear that," he said, smoothing out the papers on the
table. "I have been looking for it, and I don't blame you in the
least, though I hate to give you up. But," he added, brightening, "you
have given me a start and they can't take it away from me. I'm all
right and I know you are. And the first thing you know, I'm going to
get married and settle down. I am about half way in love with a girl
now. She put her hand on a high seat and jumped right up into a wagon.
And when she batted her eyes, I wondered that they didn't crack like a
whip, they were so sharp. I said to myself right then that I was about
half way in love with her, and I watched her as she sat there, eating
an apple; and when she drove away I went and got an apple and ate it,
and I never tasted an apple before, I tell you. It must be a great
girl that can give flavor to fruit."

"Who is she?" Lyman asked, his eyes brightening with amusement.

"I don't know her name. She drove in with her father--I reckon he was
her father--and I didn't find out her name or anything about her. I
went into the store where the man bought a jug of molasses and asked
the clerk in there if he knew the man, and he said he didn't. But
I'll find out and will marry her if she has no particular objections.
A woman who can jump like that and then flavor an apple can catch me
any day."

"You don't know but that she may be already married," said Lyman.

"Oh, no. We must not suppose that. Why, that would kill everything. Of
course the fellow with her might be her husband, but it would be
nonsense to presume so when, with the same degree of reason, I can
presume he is not. If you've got to do any presuming, always presume
for the best."

Lyman threw himself back and laughed. "Neither the ancients nor the
moderns ever evolved from life any better philosophy than that," he
declared. "Why, of course she is not married, nor shall she be until
you marry her. It was intended that she should flavor your life, even
as she flavored the apple. Here comes someone. Why, it's McElwin. Step
out into the other room a moment, please. I believe he wants to see me
alone."

CHAPTER XXIII.

AFTER AN ANXIOUS NIGHT.

McElwin arose after a night of cat-naps. He was up long before
breakfast. He stood at the gate, looking up and down the road; and
when a peddler came along the banker hailed him and asked if there
were any news in the town. The f