n surrounded by every luxury. Love was a very pretty
thing, but it couldn't live so long as poverty, the most real thing in
the world. The old man winked at Lyman. He said that age might soften
a man, but that it nearly always hardened a woman. It was rare to see
a woman's temper improve with age, while many a sober minded man
became a joker in his later years. Mrs. Staggs retorted that women had
enough to make them cross. "They have an excuse for scoldin'," she
said.

"Nobody has so good an argument as the scold," the old man replied.

"They have men, and that's argument enough," said his wife.

The old fellow laughed. "She put it on me a little right there," he
declared. "Yes, sir, I've got a steel trap clamped on my foot this
minute. But what do you think of the situation now, Lyman; I mean your
situation?"

"I don't know of any material change."

"But of course you are going to sign the petition," said Mrs. Staggs.
"Everybody agrees that you must, before court meets. And that reminds
me, I met Henry Bostic's mother today. The old lady doesn't appear to
be at all grieved over the part her son took in the affair. It would
nearly kill me if a son of mine had made such a blunder."

"It was no blunder on his part, and I don't blame him," said Annie.
"No one thought enough of his pretensions to ask him if he had been
ordained. And besides, Cousin McElwin had made fun of him."

"And a preacher can stand anything rather than ridicule," Lyman
declared. "He may forgive all sorts of abuses, but cry 'Go up, old
bald head!' and immediately he calls for the she-bears."

"And gives thanks when he hears the bears breaking the bones of his
enemies," said the old man.

"I don't blame him," replied Lyman. "Ridicule is the bite of the
spider, and it ought not to be directed against the man who dedicates
his life to sacred work."

The old woman gave him a nod of approval:

"You are right," she said. "But young Henry ought not to have been
revengeful."

"No, not as the ordinary man is revengeful," Lyman assented, "but we
serve the Lord when we humble a foolish pride. I don't think McElwin
could have done a crueler thing than to have crushed the mother's
heart with ridicule for the son."

"But about the petition," said Annie. "You will sign it, won't you?"

"I may."

"But why should you refuse. To annoy her?"

"No, to protect her."

"She would be awfully angry if she thought you presumed to pose as her
protector. Bu