Year: 1871

r his face, at himself and her, but from
that day to this, he has let all womer
t severely alone. If she had had her wits
. about her that one night, he might have
made her happy all her life, instead Of
both growing more rugged and stiff
! necked till they die. They had their
chance and lost it,


Did she never have another?' asked
Steven, with manly curiosity.


Not to my knoGlsAge She has lived
alone, with only cat for company, with
so little business of her own that she
must perforce mind other peoples, and
they don't like it.


you must make one exception to your
rule, mother. 1t is impossible that any
one should have ever held out the ghost
of chance to Miss Althea. She was
ali old maid in her cradle.


MY dear Sylvie, it was Althea Pratt,
and no other, whose unlucky rubbers
made your uncle Shubael au old bache-
lor. Her cheeks were as pink, and her
tongue no sharper than yours, in those
old times when we were girls together


Come, Steven; take the eggs and 60
your way, and don't entice me to telling
love-stories at this time in the morning. ;


Mother went into the pantry, and that
same little puff of wind, or one like unto
it, shut her in.


l felt Stevens eyes like hot sunlight
on my face, but his voice was as steady
as possible.


Il think remember asking you
question half an hour ago, Sylvie?'


'And have you forgotten my answer?


1t would have been an immense relief
just then to have twisted the corner of
my apron, but | meant to be composed
and ladyl,ke, if I had perished in the
attempt; so kept my hands clasped on
the table, and held hard.


you cannot have meant that we have
had no wooing. saw long ago that
you possessed every quality that desire
in wife,


The boduess of this speech-so cold,
so unimpaSsioned-was more than l
could endure.


You should look longer still before
| you leap. There may be many othera
who have every quality that you desire
in a wife. Olivia Primrose is the very
pattern of q farmers helpmste. l may
have streak OF sentiment that would
not do credit to the choice Of Frazer.


had meant to be sarcastic in the e--
treme, and Steven only threw back his
head and laughed.


Il don't take your words to heart,
Sylvie, because the trail of Miss Allhes
is over them all. She has been telling
you that proposed to Miss Primrose,
aud she rejected me, purposing to give
her life wholly to the making of butter


Il know better. Olivia would never
refuse YOU


'Ah, that puts me in hope again; if
you think other women would be willing
to take me, with the Frazer farm thrown
in, you cannot altogether have cast me
out of your own synagogue"


My lips began to tremble. could
not command them long enough to speak
the words which came in torrent.


The garish daylight, my calico gown,
and Stevens thick boots-sll these com.
mon things nipped any romance there
might be about the subject of our talk,
and wove spell of silence about me.
If he had so much as offered to touch
my hand, or even my dress, | could per-
haps. have probed his seeming careless
ness, and, by some lucky circumlocution,
OWNED whether lie was chooseing me
for housekeeper, as the Frazers chose
their wives, or as that other part of
himself, without which his life would
ever after be lame and incomplete.


The clock licked great many times
as sat motionless under his eye, in-
wardly torn with yearniugs for that one
word of love which never came.


"You have nothing to say to me just
now? he asked, at last.


I shook my head. He made one
step forward, and it seemed to me that
he half put out his arms, then turned
suddenly on his heel and went away.


You'd better stop here to tea on your
way home,' called my mother, from the
pantry window, but she got no answer
that was audible TO me.


What did l care for the Frazer farm,
or doing better than my sisters? What
l hungered and thirsted for was love in
such measure as should bring Steven to
my side, aud make him blind to the ex-
istence of all other women, though |
were the veriest incapable that ever man
bound like milestone about his neck. |
would have taken him Just as cheerfully,
aud worked for him all my days, if he
had beed helpless cripple. He knew
that loved him; he must have often
read the dreadful fact in every line of
my face, when he had given me one of
his unexpected up-looks.


Steven aud l had fallen into a dan
gerous habit of watching each other very
early in life. He was my balance by
which to weigh other men. When he
went away TO school and college, gave
him up for lost Then his father died,
and he came home to spend his life on
the old farm. Many people called it
sacrifice, but he professed never to have
had any other intention. "A little learn
ing did not prove "a dangerous thing
when applied to crops.