"

"She has written another letter--Did Tom tell you anything?" he broke
off.

"Did Tom ever tell me anything? Did Tom ever tell anybody anything? Did
he ever know anything to tell?"

"She has written another letter and in it she confesses--I don't know
how to say it, Uncle Gideon."

"Well, tell me and I'll say it for you. Confesses that she can be happy
with no one but you. Go on."

"Who told you? Did Mrs. Cranceford?"

"My dear boy, did Mrs. Cranceford ever tell me anything except to keep
off the grass? Nobody has told me anything. Confesses that you are the
only man that can make her happy. Now shoot your dye-stuff."

"But that's all there is. She says that her heart will never have a home
until my love builds a mansion for it."

"Jimmie, if the highest market price for a fool was one hundred dollars,
you'd fetch two hundred."

"Why? Because I believe her when she talks that way--when she gives me
to understand that she loves me?"

"No; but because you didn't believe all along that she loved you."

"How could I when she refused to marry me and married another man?"

"That marriage is explained. You've seen the letter she wrote the night
before she went away, haven't you?"

"Yes, her mother showed it to me."

"I didn't read it," said Gid, "but the Major gave me the points, and I
know that she married that fellow believing that she was saving his
soul."

"Yes, I read that," said Jim, "but I didn't know whether she meant it or
not. I reckon I was afraid to believe it."

"Well, I know it to be a fact--know it because I know her nature. She's
just crank enough----"

"Don't say that," Jim protested, unclasping his hands from his knee and
straightening up. "Don't call her a crank when she's an angel."

"That's all right, my dear boy, but heaven is full of the right sort of
cranks. Who serves God deeper than the religious crank, and if he's not
to be rewarded, who is? By crank I don't mean a weak-minded person; I
come nearer meaning a genius."

"I reckon you mean all right," the giant agreed; and after pondering in
silence he asked: "Do you reckon she would marry me?"

"I know it. And why not? You are a gentleman and a devilish good-looking
fellow. Why, any woman interested in a fine stock show would be proud of
you."

At this the giant rubbed his hands together and softly chuckled; but
sobering, he said that he could never hope to equal her in thought and
quickness of expression, though by readin