certainly very great.

That was just what Mr. Price had all along been thinking, and then, with
his great manly heart all bursting with human kindness, he said:

"You must be very lonely, Mrs. Stevens."

"Lonely, oh, so lonely!" and the white apron was changed from the corner
of the mouth to the corner of the eyes.

"I have thought so often of you living here alone with those children,
who need a father's care."

By this time the widow was whimpering. He grew bolder and, falling on
his knees, began an impassioned avowal of love. The widow, startled by
the earnestness of her lover, rose to her feet in dismay.

At this juncture the door was thrown open, and the boy Robert entered
to take a part in the scene. He carried a stout staff and, raising it
with both hands, brought it down with a resounding whack on the
shoulders of his mother's suitor.

Then a scene followed. Robert was ejected from the room and the mother
made it all right with the injured party. A few days later it was
currently reported that the widow Stevens was to wed Hugh Price the
handsome cavalier. Mr. Stevens, the brother of her former husband, was
shocked at the announcement and, in conversation with his wife, said:

"She who has always been an enemy to second marriages is now to bring a
father-in-law over her children to the house."

"Poor children when Hugh Price becomes their master, as he will."

"I believe it is my duty to expostulate with her."

"Nay, nay, husband, it will be of no avail. You will have your trouble
for your pains."

On a second thought, he was convinced that it would be folly to
interpose.

"It will be better to let her have her way," he concluded. "Marry! she
hath never sought advice or shelter save when her trouble overwhelmed
her. In prosperity we are strangers, in adversity friends. Alas, poor
children!"

The cavalier Price was seen frequently on the streets of Jamestown, and
his friends noticed that he spent much of his time with the widow. He
was smiling. His fat face and dark brown eyes seemed to glow with
happiness. He never looked ugly, save when he encountered Robert's
scowling face, and then he felt unpleasant sensations about the
shoulders.

[Illustration: The door was thrown open and the boy Robert entered to
take a part in the scene.]

Grinding his teeth in rage, he said:

"I will have my revenge on him when he is under my control."

Hugh Price was not in a great hurry. He bided his time, and n