om chairs for extra seats.

During the evening, the men tried in their rough, good natured
way, to joke Young Matt about taking advantage of Ollie Stewart's
absence, but they very soon learned that, while the big fellow was
ready to enter heartily into all the fun of the occasion, he would
not receive as a jest any allusion to his relation to the girl,
whom he had escorted to the party. Sammy, too, when her big
companion was not near, suffered from the crude wit of her
friends.

"Ollie Stewart don't own me yet," she declared with a toss of the
head, when someone threatened to write her absent lover.

"No," replied one of her tormentors, "but you ain't aimin' to miss
your chance o' goin' t' th' city t' live with them big-bugs."

In the laugh that followed, Sammy was claimed by a tall woodsman
for the next dance, and escaped to take her place on the floor.

"Well, Ollie'll sure make a good man for her," remarked another
joker; "if he don't walk th' chalk, she can take him 'cross her
knee an' wallop him."

"She'll surely marry him, alright," said the first, "'cause he's
got th' money, but she's goin' t' have a heap o' fun makin' Young
Matt play th' fool before she leaves th' woods. He ain't took his
eyes off her t'night. Everybody's laughin' at him."

"I notice they take mighty good care t' laugh behind his back,"
flashed little black-eyed Annie Brooke from the Cove neighborhood.

Young Matt, who had been dancing with Mandy Ford, came up behind
the group just in time to hear their remarks. Two or three who saw
him within hearing tried to warn the speakers, but while everybody
around them saw the situation, the two men caught the frantic
signals of their friends too late. The music suddenly stopped. The
dancers were still. By instinct every eye in the room was fixed
upon the little group, as the jokers turned to face the object of
their jests.

The big mountaineer took one long step toward the two who had
spoken, his brow dark with rage, his huge fists clenched. But,
even as his powerful muscles contracted for the expected blow, the
giant came to a dead stop. Slowly his arm relaxed. His hand
dropped to his side. Then, turning deliberately, he walked to the
door, the silent crowd parting to give him way.

As the big man stepped from the room, a gasp of astonishment
escaped from the company, and the two jokers, with frightened
faces, broke into a shrill, nervous laughter. Then a buzz of talk
went round; the fidd