ose rearing and
developing---- Just here he came to a sudden halt in his thought, and
an odd word leaped in:

"Cooking!"

Then the name of that newspaper clipping of which Randolph once told
him--

"How to Cook Wives."

"Well, how in thunder?" he asked himself, and walked homeward from the
station.

Ere he arrived he saw Nannie at the door. She was screaming something
which, on his approach, he found to be--

"Sarah Maria is lost!"

Had Steve said "thank Heaven!" he would merely have been speaking out
of the fullness of his heart. Instead of that, he wheeled like an
automaton and retraced his steps. He knew where to look for her.

There she was, as usual, down near the track, and as Steve approached
she stepped squarely on, and with a set gaze awaited the speedy coming
of the city-bound train. Of course she knew it would kill her, but
like Samson of old she would have the satisfaction of taking a few
acquaintances with her.

Steve dragged her off and managed to get her home, and thus for the
present prevented the sin of self-destruction.

That very evening, after Nannie, like the cow, was corralled (and we
may use this term without reproach, since she had been rampant all
day), a small figure slipped from out the house and hastened to the
garden. His little face, frowsy as is the manner of his breed, was
uplifted, and his saucy little eyes gleamed with fire. He had probably
observed that the peas were flourishing and that they were the one
living result of Steve's heroic labors, unless perhaps we except the
corn, which was still several miles distant from fruitage. No doubt
all this was clear to Brownie, and that was why he took such fiendish
delight in his work of demolition. The naughty little eyes twinkled;
the naughty little mouth opened to emit his short-breathed pants; and
the naughty little tongue hung out as he pranced and leaped, rolled
and gamboled over the cast-down and dejected peas. Finally he chewed
and tore the fragments that remained, and then gave himself a
shake--by no means so severe as he deserved--and strutted into the
house with a "They're-done-for!" air, quite exasperating to witness
when one considered how the poor peas were lying out there prone upon
their faces in the dust, crushed to earth, unlike truth, to rise no
more.

The next morning, all unconscious of the ruin of his crop, Steve was
deliberately making his toilet, when he was startled by roars of
fright. Looking from th