!_"

"You don't know one thing about it--not a thing!"

"Sartingly not! It's the young uns these days what knows everything,
an' the ole ones what dont know nuthin'. But yo' ole dad knows what
he's talkin' 'bout. The likes o' him will never marry any gal who puts
herself on footin' wid er cow. Does yer reckin Miss Rutlan' would
excep' his visits in er cornfiel', and let him make so free?"

"It only happened so, father."

"Hump! It's happen'd so er good many times, es I happen ter know.
Happenin' things don't come roun' so reg'ler, Mell. See hur, my gal,
'tain't no use argufyin' wid me on the subjec'. I ain't got nary
objecshun ergin yo' marryin' the young man; provided--now listen,
Mell!--_provided you kin git him_. He's es purty es er grayhoun', an'
I reckin has es much intellergence, but insted ef lettin' him make a
fool er you, es he's now tryin' ter do, turn the tables, Mell. The
biggest fool on top o' this airth is the woman who wants ter git
married; the next biggest fool is the man in er hurry ter git er wife!
One mo' word, Mell, an' I'll go my way, an' you kin go yourn. Ain't
gwine ter mortify you no mo'. Remember, what I say: thar's only one
thing you dassent do wid er fine gentlemin--_trus' him!_ Don't trus'
him, Mell; don't trus' him! My chile, the good Lord ain't denied ye
brains, use 'em! Here ends the chapter on Devilho--"

Turning off abruptly, Mr. Creecy puffed sturdily up the hill, leaving
his daughter deep in the sulks, but with much solid food for
reflection.

Her eyes followed him sullenly. He was but one remove from--a darkey.
Never had he appeared so irredeemably ugly, awkward and illiterate;
never acted so altogether and exasperatingly vulgar, horrid and
abominable, and yet she pondered deeply on his words. Their effect
upon her surprised even herself. Can an unschooled man be wise? Ah,
Mell! wisdom is not curbed by rhetoric, nor ruled by grammar. The
_respicere finem_ of the unlettered appears oftentimes to be _jure
divino_.

After a while Mell wiped away the very last tear of agonized pride,
which hung like a dewdrop on her long curling lashes. The gall and
wormwood of her present feelings were somewhat abated. She knew what
she was going to do.

"I'll get out of this!" exclaimed Mell, speaking to herself in
particular, and into space at large. "Get out of it, the very first
chance."

Get out of what, Mell? This humdrum life of little cares and big
trials? this uncongenial associati