moment later
I saw him looking out of the window with the same strange expression on
his face which I had noticed several times before when his approaching
marriage was hinted at. Something was troubling him, that was plain. He
loved Nellie devotedly, I knew; yet he obviously did not like to hear
the marriage mentioned.

Sim Eldredge was one of the first visitors to the bank, but his visit
was a short one. He entered the door, walked straight to the teller's
window and peered through the bars. I heard him catch his breath.

"Good morning, Sim," said I. "What can I do for you?"

"Do?" he repeated. "Do for me? Nothin'--nothin', 'special. You--you
meant it, then?"

"I told you I did."

"My soul!" was all the answer he made. Then he turned and walked out.

At about eleven o'clock I was half-way through the addition of a
column of figures when I heard some one say, "Well, by time!" with such
anguished fervor that it was almost like a prayer for help. I looked up.
Lute Rogers was staring in at me, open-mouthed and horror-stricken.

"Hello, Lute!" I said.

Lute swallowed hard.

"They told me 'twas so," he stammered. "They said so and--and I laughed
at 'em. Ros, you ain't, be you?"

"What?"

"Goin' to stay in there and--and take Henry's job?"

"Yes."

"You be! And you never said nothin' to nobody? To Dorinda? Or even
Comfort?"

"No; not yet."

"Nor to me. To ME, by time! You let them fellers at the store make a
fool of me--"

"No one could do that, Lute. I have told you so often."

"And you let them know it afore I did. And me livin' right in the house
with you! By time! I--I--"

"There, there, Lute! don't cry. I'll tell you all about it when I come
home for dinner."

"Yes, I should think you might do that much. Treatin' your own family
like--why did you tell Sim Eldredge?"

"Sim asked me and so I told him, that was all. Don't stand there
fidgeting. Run along home, there's a good fellow. Mr. Taylor has his eye
on you already."

Lute glanced apprehensively toward the cashier's desk and turned to go.

"Well!" he exclaimed, "I've said you was crazy more'n once, that's some
satisfaction. Say! can I tell 'em to home?"

I hesitated. "You may tell Dorinda if you like," I answered. "But I
prefer to tell Mother, myself."

George rose from his desk just then and Lute hurried to the door. I
smiled. I imagined his arrival in our kitchen and how he would explode
the sensational news upon his unsuspecting w