ost worthless, had suddenly
proved to be valuable, and he had been offered so much for his shares
that he could buy out the Company's store at Lone-Rock and build a house
bigger and better in every way than Mr. Moredock's. He had closed the
deal and bought the store, and he would build the house if--here Mary
turned another page--_if she would consent to become Mrs. Pinckney
Upham_.

Mary sat straight up in bed, the better to reread this startling
paragraph. Her face colored slowly as she rapidly scanned what followed.
It was a manly letter, although here and there it sounded as if phrases
and whole sentences had been copied from some Guide to Etiquette and
Social Correspondence. She had filled his life entirely from the first
day of their acquaintance, he told her. She had been an inspiration, a
guiding star to all that was high and noble. He loved her devotedly,
humbly and more greatly than any woman had ever been loved before, and
his whole life should be given to making her happy.

When she had finished, Mary lay back on the pillow and stared out of the
window into the branches of a sycamore tree that leaned across it. A
very tender feeling crept up into her heart for this man who was
offering her so much. She had not realized before what a beautiful, what
a solemn thing it was to be counted first in somebody's life; to know
that she really was its guiding star, its inspiration. At this distance
Pink's little mannerisms, which had always annoyed her, shrank out of
sight, and she remembered only how considerate he was, how carefully he
remembered every wish, how important he regarded her slightest word. It
would be lovely to be taken care of always by one who would do it in
such fashion; to be shielded and considered, and surrounded with every
comfort that a boundless affection could suggest.

Again it came over Mary with overwhelming force how good it would be to
go back to the clean, sweet life of the hills; the simple, wholesome
country life that she loved, and never again have to help lift the
burden of other people's poverty, or puzzle over the problem of their
wrongs. For a little space she lay and imagined what it would be like to
be back in Lone-Rock, in the new house Pink would build for her. She
could picture that, for she knew that every detail would be planned to
accord with her wishes, and she could see just the way it would be
furnished, and how she would make it the centre of hospitality and good
ch