ecured the promise which Letty was then willing to give, this history
might never have been written; but Jess, a splendid young fellow, in
spite of his surroundings, lacked assurance, and all the bond that
joined them, when he sailed away, was the hope on his part of what might
be if he ever came back.

He did in four years, covered with glory, but with a leg maimed by a bit
of shell when under Farragut, and before Vicksburg he forgot even Letty
amid the inferno of war.

In the meantime, his younger brother, Jethro, had discovered Letty, and
she, practical as always, was not long in deciding that a suitor with
good legs and a cottage already achieved was preferable to a hero with a
lame leg and no cottage.

Jess bore his discomfiture philosophically, as was his nature, not even
reproaching Letty by word or look; and though disposed to see a silver
lining back of all clouds, this one he thought best to avoid, and so
took himself away. He remained away, a rolling stone for fifteen years,
and though he gathered some moss, it failed to efface--Letty.

And then a change came; for one day the smart new fishing schooner his
brother had just built with his aid sailed away on her second voyage and
never came back, and practical Letty was left a widow with one child, a
modest home on Rockhaven, and naught else. As might be expected, she
sent at once for Jess, and to him only imparted the facts of the
situation.

Whether it was the smouldering embers of his boyhood illusion or the
winsome ways of the child Mona, now four years old, that influenced him,
no one ever knew, but he at once announced that he had decided to abide
in Rockhaven for the future and open a store. There was one already
there, but the slow growth of the village allowed a fair excuse for
another, and Jess established it. Once more the gossips, who take
cognizance of all matters, recalled the youthful attentions of Jess to
Letty, and asserted that she would, in suitable time, discard her
widow's weeds and become another Mrs. Hutton. She did put on more
cheerful habiliments in due time, but remained a widow still; and though
Jess was a frequent caller, usually walking to church with her and Mona
on Sundays, he continued, as he had started, to live by himself over his
store.

Neither were the gossips enlightened as to the financial standing of the
widow, or how much had been laid away by her husband, or her means of a
livelihood.

Jess knew, however, and J