ong struggle--all floated before him in a fog of reverie. Years of
deprivation, of bending toil and then, suddenly, this had come--this
miracle symbolized by this piece of paper. Martin moistened his
lips. Mentally, he realized all the dramatic significance of what had
happened, but it gave him none of the elation he had expected.

This bewildered and angered him. Sixteen thousand dollars and with it no
thrill. What was lacking? As he pondered, puzzled and disappointed, it
came to him that he needed something by which to measure his wealth,
someone whose appreciation of it would make it real to him, give him
a genuine sense of its possession. What if he were to take Robinson's
advice: fix up a bit and--marry?

Nellie had often urged the advantages of this, but he had never had much
to do with women; they did not belong in his world and he had not
missed them; he had never before felt a need of marriage. Upon the
few occasions when, driven by his sister's persistence, he had vaguely
considered it, he had shrunk away quickly from the thought of the
unavoidable changes which would be ushered in by such a step. This
shack, itself--no one whom he would want would, in this day, consent to
live in it, and, if he should marry, his wife must be a superior woman,
good looking, and with the push and energy of his mother. He thought of
all she had meant to his father; and there was Nellie, not to be spoken
of in the same breath, yet making Bert Mall a good wife. What a cook she
was! Memories of her hot, fluffy biscuits, baked chicken, apple pies
and delicious coffee, carried trailing aromas that set his nostrils
twitching. It would be pleasant to have satisfying meals once more, to
be relieved, too, of the bother of the three hundred chickens, to have
some one about in the evenings. True, there would be expense, oh, such
expense--the courting, the presents, the wedding, the building, the
furniture, and, later, innumerable new kinds of bills. But weren't all
the men around him married? Surely, if they, not nearly as well off as
himself, could afford it, so could he.

Besides, wasn't it all different now that he held this check in his
hand? These sixteen thousand dollars were not the same dollars which he
had extorted from close-fisted Nature. Each of those had come so lamely,
was such a symbol of sweat and aching muscles, that to spend one was
like parting with a portion of himself, but this new, almost incredible
fortune, had com