way by nobody."

The girl's face flamed until it seemed that her blonde thatch of hair
would take fire.

"Pappy ain't to blame," she said angrily; "he can't help thinkin' the
way he does. There ain't no call to be mad with pappy; it's all that
miser'ble, lyin' Barden. It'll be a cold day fer him when I ketch 'im."

Parker gazed at her admiringly. She had laid the chicken on a corner of
the table, and was vigorously cutting it into pieces, cracking its
bones, and slashing into it with an energy that seemed to her lover
deliciously bloodthirsty and homicidal.

"Barden's got back from the East," he announced. "I see 'im over t'
Elsmore Saturday, tryin' to peek over the top of his high collar. You'd
ought to seen 'im; he's sweet pretty."

The girl refused to smile, but the blaze in her cheeks subsided a
little.

"It's just as well fer him I didn't," she said, whetting her knife on
the edge of a stone jar. "He mightn't be so pretty after I'd got done
lookin' at 'im."

Parker laughed resoundingly, and the girl's face relaxed a little under
his appreciative mirth. When her father stepped upon the platform at
the kitchen door, she left the frying chicken to hiss and sputter in the
skillet, and went to meet him.

"Now, pappy," she said, taking hold of him with vigorous tenderness,
"I'll bet you've been workin' too hard. Here, let me fill that basin,
and when you've washed, you come in an' let Mr. Lowe give ye a pointer
on settin' 'round watchin' other folks work." She raised her voice for
Parker's benefit. "He come out here fer his health, an' he's gettin' so
fat an' sassy he has to live by 'imself."

Parker's appreciation of this brilliant sally seemed to threaten the
underpinning of the kitchen.

Eben smiled up into his daughter's face as he lathered his hairy hands.

"I wouldn't make out much at livin' by myself, Idy," he said gently.

"You ain't goin' to get a chance," rejoined his daughter, rushing back
to her sputtering skillet, and spearing the pieces of chicken
energetically; "you ain't goin' to get red o' me, no matter how sassy
you are; I'm here to stay."

"Hold on now," warned Parker; "mind what you're sayin'."

"I know what I'm sayin'," retorted the girl, tossing her head. "I'd just
like to see the man that could coax me away from pappy."

"You'd like to see 'im, would ye?" roared Parker, slapping his knee.
"Come, now, that's pretty good. Mebbe if you'd look, ye might ketch a
glimpse of 'im settin'