ous to applause. She was looking far back upon a hewed log
floor, bright faces about a great fireplace, and a fiddler in the
corner, beneath a string of dried pumpkin, hanging from a rafter. The
rillet of music ran out.

"Yes, you bet!" she said, with tears in her eyes. "Many and many a time,
Bill; and all night long, with the snow three feet outside, and the
wolves howlin' in the woods. Yes, you bet! Who is this?"

Mrs. Goodwin introduced the Professor. He hopped to one side, back
again, bowed, and expressed his great pleasure. "Dolihide," said Mrs.
Stuvic. "I'd forget that name even if it was my own. But my, what names
they do fish up these days! Oh, let me see, you've moved over to the
old Pruitt place. Yes, I saw your wife at Lake Villa. Big fat woman. And
I've met you before."

The Professor bowed. "Not lean, madam; not lean, but not fat. She
couldn't dance as you do, but not fat, madam."

"No, you bet she couldn't," said Mrs. Stuvic. "And there ain't many that
can. Strike up a tune there, and, Bill, you come out here and dance with
me."

"Oh, yes, do!" Mrs. Blakemore cried.

Milford not only declined; he "bucked." He was not to be caught in such
a trap. He might be made to look ridiculous, but not with his willing
assistance. He might have nerve enough to break wild horses, he said,
but not enough to get out on a floor to dance. Why not take the
Professor? Milford expected to see him run, but he stepped forth with a
gracious smile, and took hold of the old woman. And while they were
dancing Gunhild entered the room. Without even the slightest tint of
embarrassment, she went straightway to Milford and shook hands with him.
She had been out bareheaded, under the trees, and dewdrops gleamed in
her hair.

"Did you find Mrs. Goodwin much scared about you last night?"

"Not much. She knew I would come home safe. This morning, when I said
how kind it was of you to keep a light burning in a pan for me, they
laughed. And I was angry till they told me it was all a joke."

"I heard about it. Blakemore told me."

"Did he? Oh, it was not much important."

"And they tried to guy you about me, did they?"

"Guy me? They tried to plague. Then I get mad till I understand, and
then I laugh."

"Blakemore said they told you that I--that I was engaged."

"Yes, but that was of no difference. They tried to make me think I do
wrong to walk with you when you engaged. I told them that it made no
difference."

"But I am n