it seemed, that it almost
made her uncomfortable to have him around.

Man that he was in stature, he appeared no more than a timid boy in
understanding, and her little advances of friendliness, her little
appeals for sympathy, all glanced from the unconscious armor of his
youthful innocence and reserve. She was forced to put him down after
many weeks as merely stupid, and she sighed when she saw the hope of
comradeship in her hard lot fade out and give way to a feeling bordering
upon contempt.

On Sunday evenings, after he came back from visiting his mother, Ollie
frequently saw Joe reading the little brown Bible which he had carried
with him when he came. She had taken it up one day while making Joe's
bed. It brought back to her the recollection of her Sunday-school days,
when she was all giggles and frills; but there was no association of
religious training to respond to its appeal. She wondered what Joe saw
in it as she put it back on the box beside his bed.

It chanced that she met Joe the next morning after she had made that
short incursion between the brown covers of his book, as she was
returning from the well and he was setting out for the hog-lot between
two pails of sour swill. He stood out of the path to let her pass
without stepping into the long, dewy grass. She put her bucket down with
a gasp of weariness, and looked up into his eyes with a smile.

The buckets were heavy in Joe's hands; he stood them down, meeting her
friendly advances with one of his rare smiles, which came as seldom to
his face, thought she, as a hummingbird to the honeysuckle on the
kitchen porch.

"Whew, this is going to be a scorcher!" said she.

"I believe it is," he agreed.

From the opposite sides of the path their eyes met. Both smiled again,
and felt better for it.

"My, but you're a mighty religious boy, aren't you?" she asked
suddenly.

"Religious?" said he, looking at her in serious surprise.

She nodded girlishly. The sun, long slanting through the cherry-trees,
fell on her hair, loosely gathered up after her sleep, one free strand
on her cheek.

"No, I'm not religious."

"Well, you read the Bible all the time."

"Oh, well!" said he, stooping as if to lift his pails.

"Why?" she wanted to know.

Joe straightened his long back without his pails. Beyond the orchard the
hogs were clamoring shrilly for their morning draught; from the barn
there came the sound of Isom's voice, speaking harshly to the beasts.