l.

"Oh, they all say thar's no doubt--no doubt at all."

She drew a long breath of contentment, of pleasure. She leaned back,
silent and reflective, against the rail fence behind the bench, her
eyes fixed, absorbed, following the outline of other scenes than the
one before them, which indeed left no impression upon her senses,
scenes to come, slowly shaping the future. All trace of the red glow
of the sun had departed from the landscape. No heavy, light-absorbing,
sad-hued tapestries could wear so deep a purple, such sombre
suggestions of green, as the circling mountains had now assumed: they
were not black, and yet such depths of darkness hardly comported with
the idea of color. The neutral tints of the sky were graded more
definitely, with purer transparency, because of the contrast. The
fine grays were akin to pearl color, to lavender, even, in approaching
the zenith, to the palest of blue--so pale that the white glitter of a
star alternately appeared and was lost again in its tranquil
inexpressiveness. The river seemed suddenly awake; its voice was
lifted loud upon the evening air, a rhythmic song without words. The
frogs chanted by the waterside. Fireflies here and there quivered
palely over the flat cornfields at the back of the house. There was a
light within, dully showing through the vines at the window.

"An' then, 'Dosia," said Justus softly, "when the 'lection is over,
it's time fur ye an' me ter git married."

She roused herself with an obvious effort, and looked
uncomprehendingly at him for a moment, as if she hardly heard.

"The las' one o' Fambly will be off my han's then. Fambly will hev
been pervided fur--every one, Wat an' all. I hev done my bes' fur
Fambly, an' I dunno but I hev earned the right ter think some fur
myse'f now."

He would not perhaps have arrogated so much, except to the woman by
whom he believed himself beloved. She said nothing, and he went on
slowly, lingering upon the words as if he loved the prospect they
conjured up.

"We-uns will hev the gyardin an' orchard, an' pastur' an' woods-lot
an' fields, ter tend ter, an' the cows an' bees, an' the mare an'
filly, an' peegs an' poultry, ter look arter. An' the house air all
tight, the roof an' all in good repair, an' we-uns will have it all
ter ourselves."

She turned upon him with sudden interest.

"What will kem o' Wat?"

"Oh, he mus' live in town whilst sher'ff, bein' off'cer o' the court
an' official keeper o' jail, th