ll have to take that co't for every day now, an' get me
a new one for best," he announced at last, because somebody had to say
something. "I've about finished with this. Spring work is hard on an
old co't."

"Your best one is gettin' a little mite threadbare in the back," said
Maria, but it was hard for her to control her voice. "I'll put all
your clothes in as good repair as I can before I go, sir. I've come to
the conclusion that I ought to go back to my brother's folks, his wife
wants to go off on a visit"--

"Don't you, Maria," exclaimed the distressed old man. "Don't talk that
way; it's onreasonable. William has informed me about your brother's
folks; what else may affect you I don't know, but I've made up my
mind. I don't know why 't was, but I was just comin' to speak about
it. I may say 't was for your interest as well as mine, an' with
William's approval. I never thought to change my situation till
lately. Such a loss as I've met ain't to be forgotten, an' it ain't
forgotten. I'm gettin' along in years, an' I never was a great talker.
I expect you know what I want to say, Miss Durrant. I'll provide well
for you, an' make such a settlement as you an' William approve. He's
well off, an' he spoke to me about us; that we was comfortable
together, an' he never wanted to see me left alone, as I was last
year. How do you feel yourself? You feel that 't would be good
judgment, now don't ye?"

Maria never had heard Mr. Israel Haydon say so much at any one time.
There he stood, a man of sixty-eight, without pretense of having
fallen in love, but kind and just, and almost ministerial in his
respectability. She had always followed a faint but steady star of
romance, which shone still for her in the lowering sky of her life; it
seemed to shine before her eyes now; it dazzled her through fresh
tears. Yet, after all, she felt that this was really her home, and
with a sudden great beat of her heart, she knew that she should say
"Yes" to Mr. Haydon. The sharp sting in the thought of going away had
been that she must leave him to the ignorant devotion or neglect of
somebody else--some other woman was going to have the dear delight of
making him comfortable.

So she looked up full in his face, unmindful of the bleakness of his
love-making, and was touched to see that he bore the aspect of a truly
anxious and even affectionate man. Without further words they both
knew that the great question was settled. The star of romance