t
and heat of the fire. His large head was heavy with learning, and his
dark eyes deep with religious fervor.

Several young women entered, and the room was filled with the clatter of
tongues. Herman came in a few moments later, his face in a girlish glow
of color. Everybody rushed at him with loud outcry. He was evidently a
great favorite. He threw his arms about Mrs. Mills, giving her a hearty
hug. The girls pretended to be shocked when he reached out for them, but
they were not afraid of him. They hung on his arms and besieged him with
questions till he cried out, in jolly perplexity:

"Girls, girls! This will never do!"

Mrs. Mills brushed out his damp yellow curls with her hands. "You're all
wet."

"Girls, if you'll let me sit down, I'll take one on each knee," he said,
pleadingly, and they released him.

Stacey grew red with sympathetic embarrassment, and shrank away into a
corner.

"Go get supper ready," commanded Herman. And it was only after they had
left him that he said to Stacey: "Oh, you found your way all right." He
took a seat by the fire and surveyed his wet shoes. "I took a run up to
Mott's house--only a half block out o' the way. He said they'd be
tickled to have you at Cyene. By-the-way, you're a theolog, aren't you?"
Wallace nodded, and Herman went on: "So I told Mott. He said you might
work up a society out there at Cyene."

"Is there a church there?"

"Used to be, but--say, I tell you what you do: you go out with me
to-morrow, and I'll give you a history of the township."

The ringing of the bell took them all out into the cheerful dining-room
in a good-natured scramble. Mrs. Mills put Stacey at one end of the
table, near a young woman who looked like a teacher, and he had full
sweep of the table, which was surrounded by bright and happy faces. The
station-hand was there, and a couple of grocery clerks, and a brakeman
sat at Stacey's right hand. They all seemed very much at home, and
called one another by their Christian names, and there was very obvious
courtship on the part of several young couples.

Stacey escaped from the table as soon as possible, and returned to his
seat beside the fire. He was young enough to enjoy the chatter of the
girls, but his timidity made him glad they paid so little attention to
him. The rain had changed to sleet outside and hammered at the window
viciously, but the blazing fire and the romping young people set it at
defiance. The landlady came to the do