elp with the herbs,
and I'd feel as if I had some right to be here."

"All that is coming," said the Harvester. "Take a little more time. You
can't expect to sin steadily against the laws of health for years,
and recover in a day. You will be all right much sooner than you think
possible."

"Oh I hope so!" said the Girl. "But sometimes I doubt it. How I could
come here and put such a burden on a stranger, I can't see. I scarcely
can remember what awful stress drove me. I had no courage. I should have
finished in my garret as my mother did. I must have some of my father's
coward blood in me. She never would have come. I never should!"

"If it didn't make any real difference to you, and meant all the world
to me, I don't see why you shouldn't humour me. I can't begin to tell
you how happy I am to have you here. I could shout and sing all day."

"It requires very little to make some people happy."

"You are not much, but you are going to be more soon," laughed the
Harvester, as he gently picked up the Girl and carried her to the swing,
where he covered her, kissed her hot hand, and whistled for Belshazzar.
He pulled the table close and set a pitcher of iced fruit juice on it.
Then he left her and she could hear the rattle of wheels as he crossed
the bridge and drove away.

"Betsy, this is mighty serious business," said the Harvester. "The
Girl is scorching or I don't know fever. I wonder----well, one thing
is sure----she is bound to be better off in pure, cool air and with
everything I can do to be kind, than in Henry Jameson's attic with
everything he could do to be mean. Pleasant men those Jamesons! Wonder
if the Girl's father was much like her Uncle Henry? I think not or her
refined and lovely mother never would have married him. Come to think of
it, that's no law, Betsy. I've seen beautiful and delicate women fall
under some mysterious spell, and yoke their lives with rank degenerates.
Whatever he was, they have paid the price. Maybe the wife deserved it,
and bore it in silence because she knew she did, but it's bitter hard on
Ruth. Girls should be taught to think at least one generation ahead when
they marry. I wonder what Doc will say, Betsy? He will have to come and
see for himself. I don't know how she will feel about that. I had hoped
I could pull her through with care, food, and tonics, but I don't dare
go any farther alone. Betsy, that's a thin, hot, little hand to hold a
man's only chance for happiness."