ch a scramble for them,
and so many neighbors would be "hurt in their feelings" if they could
not have a portion, that Miss Foote found herself left with two gammons,
but no ham. Harry heard this in the kitchen. He kept silence till his
ham was finely cured, and then, touching his hat as if asking a favor,
he told his employer that she had done good things for him, and he had
never been able to do any for her, and he should be much pleased if she
would take the ham for what he gave for it. Though not agreeing to this
exactly, Miss Foote found herself obliged to take the ham very cheap.

Another small incident showed the same gentlemanly spirit. At the time
when his whole soul was engrossed with the desire to make "the
experiment" answer, he had a request to present, as often during a whole
winter as he could edge it in. There was a certain long, ugly hedge,
pernicious in every way, which divided the field from a neighbor's. The
hedge belonged to the neighbor; and it appeared that he would be
heartily glad to give it away to any body who would take it down and put
up some fence which would cover less ground and harbor less vermin.
Harry was so eager to be allowed to remove the hedge, that Miss Foote at
last told him that she should never have dreamed of his undertaking such
a job in addition to his regular work; but that he might please himself.
She would put up a new fence if he chose to make way for it. He did it
with no help but in felling some pollards. One afternoon, when wheeling
up hill an enormous load of wood from the hedge, he heard himself
laughed at from the next field. Now, no man winces more under a laugh
than Harry; yet he bore it well this time. Some men called out mockingly
that he was doing horse's work and man's work at once, and they would
not do that to please any body. "No," said Harry, turning full round
toward them, "nor, I neither. Miss Foote never asked me to do this. I do
it to please myself."

No man, I have said, winces under a laugh more than Harry; and his only
suffering worth mentioning, since he came to his new place, has been
from this dislike of ridicule. When the cottage was ready, Miss Foote
proposed a house-warming, and invited herself and her two maids there to
tea. It was a particularly pleasant evening, with a fine fire, and
plenty of light, and good tea and cake, and all the five in capital
spirits. Harry was made to take the arm-chair by his own fireside; and
when he began to c