an do without them very well," replied Molly, tossing
her head.

"Ah, you're young yet, my dear, an' thar's a long road ahead of you. But
wait till you've turned forty an' you'll find that the man you throwed
over at twenty will come handy, if for nothin' mo' than to fill a gap in
the chimney. I ain't standin' up for 'em, mind you, an' I can't remember
that I ever heard anything particular to thar credit as a sex--but po'
things as we allow 'em to be, thar don't seem but one way to git along
without 'em, an' that is to have 'em. It's sartain sure, however, that
they fill a good deal mo' of yo' thought when they ain't around than
when they are. Why, look at William, now--the first time he axed me to
marry him, I kept sayin' 'you're still slue-footed an' slack-kneed an'
addle-headed an' I'll marry you whether or no.' Twenty years may
not change a man for the better, but it does a powerful lot toward
persuadin' a woman to put up with the worst!"

"Well, best or worst, I've seen enough of marriage, Mrs. Bottom, to know
that I shouldn't like it."

"I ain't denyin' it might be improved on without hurtin' it--but a
single woman's a terrible lonesome body, Molly."

"I'm not lonely, while I have grandfather."

"He's old an' he ain't got many years ahead of him."

"If I lose him I'll go to Applegate and trim hats for a living."

"It's a shame, Molly, with the po' miller splittin' his heart over you."

"He'll mend it. They're like that, all of them."

"But Mr. Mullen? Ain't he different now, bein' a parson?"

"No, he's just the same, and besides he'd always think he'd stooped to
marry me."

"Then take Jim Halloween. With three good able-bodied lovers at yo'
beck an' call, it's a downright shame to die an old maid just from pure
contrariness. It's better arter all, to eat dough that don't rise than
to go hungry."

A step sounded on the platform outside and a lank, good-looking
countryman glanced cautiously in through the crack in the door.
Observing Molly, he spat a wad of tobacco over the hitching rail by the
steps, and stopped to smooth his straw-coloured hair with the palm of
his hand before crossing the threshold.

"Thar's Jim Halloween now jest as we were speakin' of him," whispered
Betsey Bottom, with a nudge at Molly's shoulder.

"Well, if that don't beat all," drawled the young man, in an embarrassed
rapture, as he entered. "I was gettin' my horse shod over thar at Tim
Mallory's, an' I thought to myself tha