persistent flattery would go a long way
towards winning her. "I've gained harder cases by studying the jury,"
he thought, "and I'll get her because I know her. That schoolmaster
irritates her; I won't. He says unpleasant things to her; I'll say
pleasant things and she'll turn to me. She likes to be admired; I guess
that means dresses and diamonds. Well, she shall have them, have all
she wants.... The mother ain't a factor, that's plain, and the father's
sittin' on the fence; he'll just do anythin' for the girl, and if he
ain't well off--what does that matter? I don't want money;" and his
chest expanded with a proud sense of disinterestedness.

"Why does the schoolmaster run after her? what would he do with such a
woman? He couldn't even keep her properly if he got her. It's a duty to
save the girl from throwin' herself away on a young, untried man like
that." He felt again that his virtue ought to help him to succeed.

"What a handsome figure she has! Her arms are perfect, firm as marble;
and her neck--round, too, and not a line on it, and how she walks! She's
the woman I want--so lovely I'll always be proud of her. What a wife
she'll make! My first wife was pretty, but not to be compared to her.
Who'd ever have dreamt of finding such a beauty in this place? How lucky
I am after all. Yes, lucky because I know just what I want, and go for
it right from the start That's all. That's what luck means.

"Women are won little by little," he concluded. "Whoever knows them
and humours them right along, flattering their weak points, is sure to
succeed some time or other. And I can wait."

He got his opportunity by waiting. As Loo took her seat in the buggy one
afternoon he saw that she was nervous and irritable. "The schoolmaster's
been goin' for her--the derned fool," he said to himself, and at once
began to soothe her. The task was not an easy one. She was cold to him
at first and even spiteful; she laughed at what he said and promised,
and made fun of his pretensions. His kindly temper stood him in good
stead. He was quietly persistent; with the emollient of good-nature
he wooed her in his own fashion, and before they reached the first
settler's house he had half won her to kindliness. Here he made his
victory complete. At every question he appealed to her deferentially for
counsel and decision; he reckoned Miss Conklin would know, he relied on
her for the facts, and when she spoke he guessed that just settled the
matter;