ttlement too monotonous to suit his tastes. No new
knowledge of his antecedents was arrived at. He had come "fro' Deepton,"
and that was the beginning and end of the matter. In fact, his seemed
to be a peculiarly silent nature. He was fond of being alone, and
spent most of his spare time in the desolate little shanty. Attempts at
conversation appeared to trouble him, it was discovered, and accordingly
he was left to himself as not worth the cultivating.

"Why does na' tha' talk more?" demanded Janner's daughter, who was a
strong, brusque young woman, with a sharp tongue.

"I ha' not gotten nowt to say," was the meekly deprecating response.

Miss Janner, regarding the humble face with some impatience, remarkably
enough, found nothing to deride in it, though, being neither a beauty
nor in her first bloom, and sharp of tongue, as I have said, she was
somewhat given to derision as a rule. In truth, the uncomplaining
patience in the dull, soft eyes made her feel a little uncomfortable.

"I dunnot know what ails thee," she remarked with unceremonious candor,
"but theer's summat as does."

"It's nowt as can be cured," said the lad, and turned his quiet face
away.

In his silent fashion he evinced a certain degree of partially for his
host's daughter. Occasionally, after his meals, he lingered for a few
moments watching her at her work when she was alone, sitting by the
fire or near the door, and regarding her business-like movements with a
wistful air of wonder and admiration. And yet so unobtrusive were
these mute attentions that Bess Janner was never roused to any form of
resentment of them.

"Tha's goin' to ha' a sweetheart at last, my lass," was one of Janner's
favorite witticisms, but Bess bore it with characteristic coolness. "I'm
noan as big a foo' as I look," she would say, "an' I dunnot moind _him_
no more nor if he wus a wench hissen'."

Small as was the element of female society at Black Creek, this
young woman was scarcely popular. She was neither fair nor fond: a
predominance of muscle and a certain rough deftness of hand were her
chief charms. Ordinary sentiment would have been thrown away upon her;
and, fortunately, she was spared it.

"She's noan hurt wi' good looks, our Bess," her father remarked with
graceful chivalrousness on more than one occasion, "but hoo con heave
a'most as much as I con, an' that's summat."

Consequently, it did not seem likely that the feeling she had evidently
awakened in