, durin' the long evenin's, when
it gets dark early."

"Oh, awful lonesome," Jonathan responded. "Don't you ever get lonesome
yourself, Hepsey?"

"I can't say as it kept me awake nights. 'Tisn't bein' alone that
makes you lonesome. The most awful lonesomeness in the world is bein'
in a crowd that's not your kind."

"That's so, Hepsey. But two isn't a crowd. Don't you think you'd like
to get married, if you had a right good chance, now?"

Hepsey gave her visitor a quick, sharp glance, and inquired:

"What would you consider a right good chance, Jonathan?"

"Oh, suppose that some respectable widower with a tidy sum in the bank
should ask you to marry him; what would you say, Hepsey?"

"Can't say until I'd seen the widower, to say nothin' of the bank
book--one, two, three, four, five, six--"

Jonathan felt that the crisis was now approaching; so, moving his
chair a little nearer, he resumed excitedly:

"You've seen him, Hepsey; you've seen him lots of times, and he don't
live a thousand miles away, neither."

"Hm! Must be he lives in Martin's Junction. Is he good lookin',
Jonathan?"

"Oh, fair to middlin'. That is--of course--I well--I--I should think
he was; but tastes differ."

"Well, you know I'm right particular, Jonathan. Is he real smart and
clever?"

"I don't know as--I ought to--to--say, Hepsey; but I rather guess he
knows enough to go in when it rains."

"That's good as far as it goes. The next time you see him, you tell
him to call around and let me look him over. Maybe I could give him a
job on the farm, even if I didn't want to marry him."

"But he doesn't want any job on the farm, Hepsey. He just wants you,
that's all."

"How do you know he does? Did he ever tell you?"

"Hepsey Burke, don't you know who I'm alludin' at? Haven't you ever
suspected nothin'?"

"Yes, I've suspected lots of things. Now there's Jack Dempsey. I've
suspected him waterin' the milk for some time. Haven't you ever
suspected anythin' yourself, Jonathan?"

"Well, I guess I'm suspectin' that you're tryin' to make a fool of me,
all right."

"Oh no! Fools come ready-made, and there's a glut in the market just
now; seven--eight--nine--ten; no use makin' more until the supply's
exhausted. But what made you think you wanted to marry? This is so
powerful sudden."

Now that the point was reached, Jonathan got a little nervous: "To--to
tell you the truth, Hepsey," he stuttered, "I was in doubt about it
myself for some