Year: 1872

a.,


A willy, deep-plotting sort of man
was little Doctor Nugent, and no one
was better aware of it than himself.
He could keep secret, nor had he re-
vealed to moral man how many of the
best matches in the Tonaway Valley
had been planned, arranged, and prac-
tically decided upon in his own wise,
grey head. Nor were his facilities any
the less perfect that for quarter of a
century he had been the only practicing
physician for many long mile around.
To be sure, his ancient monopoly had
Of late been somewhat disturbed by the
appearance of a younger medical light;
but the newcomer was manifestly poor
and unknown, and at the same time a
slight cast i'll one of his eyes had placed
him greatly at the mercy of his witty
senior.


One piece of work the doctor had in
mind, that seemed to have been Just
planned by fate, and left for him to
carry out.


"Then," he said to himself, "on the
east bank of the Tonaway, is Isabel
Lees farm, and she's going on twenty
three, and she ought to be married, for
it must be lonely times living in that
big house with no one but that fussy
old aunt o her'n and the help. And
right across the bridge is Dorr Martin,
with bigger farm than Isabel's, and
he's getting toward thirty. There
couldn't be neater thing than to put
them two farms into one"


Perhaps the Doctor had other ideas
of his own; but it would have done his
heart good that morning if he had
known some things that he could not
possibly have guessed. For it hap
pened that Isabel Lee, as she looked
out over her broad well-tilled acres, to
tho Tonaway, and upon the not less
desirable acres beyond, had thought u
good deal of Dorr Martin and his farm
A keen-eyed, healthful, strong-minded
young woman was Isabel, with very
little nonsense and good deal of de-
termination, ard she had very distinctly
decided in her own mind that it was
time for her to think of getting mar
ried.


At almost the same time had Dorr
Martin returned from an early circuit
of his fourishing fields, and the
thought had come to him, for not the
first time by any means, that old father
Lee had left splendid farm to his
daughter There was something very
like vein of romance in Dorr, in spite
OF his long kept bachelor state, and it
was easy enough for him to invest his
fair neighbor with manifold pcrfec:ions
us he noted how beautifully her mead
ows lay in the sweeping curve of the
Tonaway.


The Doctor was not only man of
wisdom but of action, and his knowl-
edge of human nature promptly sug-
gested the methods of his warfare.


"Nothing like bit of jealousy to
spur EN- on--nothing SO sure in the
wide world" .E.


And so, for the Doctor could find his
way anywhere, before the sun went
down, Dorr Martin had heard him say


"Splendid headquarters for young
country doctor, that old Lee homestead
would make, don't you think SO? Pity
it should go to squint-eyed--, hem
Yes-well, how's your wheat looking p


And Dorr Martin had WINGED and
looked uneasy, and talked somewhat
lamely about his crops, and the Doctor
knew he was sure of him. ,


As for Isabel Lee, the Doctor had no
sooner got through his little prescriptive
conference with her aunt than he began
to SOW seeds in her mental garden also.


How do you like the new school
ma'am?" he said, among other things.
"I'm fond of red hair, myself, and its
mighty taking with young men now-a-
days, they say. Haven't called on her ?
Well now; I 'spose you would if she
got to be a nigh neighbor-say, for, in
stance, just over the bridge yonder.
Folks that iine farms ought to be good
fliends-eh ~" .f..,t .4.r'rF


And the Doctor looked wonderfully
wise as ho got into his wide-topped bug
gy; but the keen bright eyes of Isabel
Lee had yielded him no sign of what
her thoughts might be. Isabel's face
was no tAll-tale and she knew Dr. Nu-