ry B. to Mis' Molly in the kitchen, "how
does the plan strike you?"

"Ef Rena's satisfied, I am," replied Mis' Molly. "But you'd better say
nothin' about ketchin' a beau, or any such foolishness, er else she'd
be just as likely not to go nigh Sampson County."

"Befo' Cousin Jeff goes back," confided Mary B., "I'd like ter give 'im
a party, but my house is too small. I wuz wonderin'," she added
tentatively, "ef I could n' borry yo' house."

"Shorely, Ma'y B. I'm int'rested in Mr. Wain on Rena's account, an'
it's as little as I kin do to let you use my house an' help you git
things ready."

The date of the party was set for Thursday night, as Wain was to leave
Patesville on Friday morning, taking with him the new teacher. The
party would serve the double purpose of a compliment to the guest and a
farewell to Rena, and it might prove the precursor, the mother secretly
hoped, of other festivities to follow at some later date.

XXII

IMPERATIVE BUSINESS

One Wednesday morning, about six weeks after his return home, Tryon
received a letter from Judge Straight with reference to the note left
with him at Patesville for collection. This communication properly
required an answer, which might have been made in writing within the
compass of ten lines. No sooner, however, had Tryon read the letter
than he began to perceive reasons why it should be answered in person.
He had left Patesville under extremely painful circumstances, vowing
that he would never return; and yet now the barest pretext, by which no
one could have been deceived except willingly, was sufficient to turn
his footsteps thither again. He explained to his mother--with a
vagueness which she found somewhat puzzling, but ascribed to her own
feminine obtuseness in matters of business--the reasons that
imperatively demanded his presence in Patesville. With an early start
he could drive there in one day,--he had an excellent roadster, a light
buggy, and a recent rain had left the road in good condition,--a day
would suffice for the transaction of his business, and the third day
would bring him home again. He set out on his journey on Thursday
morning, with this programme very clearly outlined.

Tryon would not at first have admitted even to himself that Rena's
presence in Patesville had any bearing whatever upon his projected
visit. The matter about which Judge Straight had written might, it was
clear, be viewed in several aspects. The judge had writ