re smiling and one or two who had
slept badly were saying something like this:

"Well, did you ever! And you never can tell. Those meek, quiet little
things are usually deep. And the dear Lord only knows what the true
state of things is. And poor Mrs. Sears! Of course, she's done her
best, but isn't it too bad to have a batch of children turn out so kind
of disappointing and her so meek and patient and hard-working!"

In three hours the news had gotten out to the out-lying homes and
Sears, the little bride's father, heard it as he was nailing siding on
one of the two new bungalows that were being built in that part of
Green Valley.

When Sears heard the rumor he put down his hammer and quit work. He
was a man who made a practice of quitting work at the least
provocation. He said what a man needed most was self-respect and he,
Will Sears, would have it at any cost. He had it. In fact, he was so
respectful and thoughtful of himself that he never had time to respect
the rights of any one else.

Green Valley saw him going home and because Green Valley knew him well
and respected him not at all it took no pains to hush its chatter, and
so he heard a good deal that it may have done him good to hear. At any
rate, it sort of prepared him for what came later.

He stamped into the house and wanted to know why in this and that he
hadn't been told about all this before he went to work, and what in
this and that she meant by such doings and goings on.

And Mrs. Sears, whose greatest daily trial was getting her husband off
to work on such mornings as he felt so inclined, said tearfully:

"Why, father, you know that when I'm getting you off of a morning I
wouldn't see a twenty-dollar gold piece if it was right before my eyes
on the table. I never found the piece of paper with Alice's letter on
it till you'd gone and I'd set down for a cup of coffee."

For thirty years Milly Sears had called her husband "father" and now
that he had fathered all his children away from home she still called
him "father." Poor Mrs. Sears had no sense of humor.

After her pitiful little explanation Mrs. Sears sank down into her
rocker and went back to weeping. It was her way of taking life's
sudden turns.

Sears tore through the house and every once in a while he'd walk back
to the kitchen and swear. Sears was not in any way a likeable man.
Though so self-respecting, he had all his life been careless about his
language and his bre