led through these woods."

"I'll lay the hearthstones, whitewash the walls, and put up some
shelves over in that corner to-morrow," said Abner.

"When that is done, the windows cleaned and curtained, and the things
all arranged, it will be quite a cozy place," added Susan.

"Yes," assented Logan, "it will do, I suppose, until I can get to town
to buy whatever we need."

"Oh, it's good as it is, and we will soon make it a very inviting
home," interrupted Betty. "Don't worry because you haven't a stately
mansion for your bride. It's bad enough to have a wife thrust upon you
in this unceremonious style, without your impoverishing yourself to fit
up a luxurious home for her all at once."

The work went merrily forward during the next two days, although the
season was hardly propitious for housecleaning. Rache, who enjoyed it
all as much as any one, declared with a grin, "It's de fust time I evah
hearn uv folks doin' ther spring cleanin' when de snow am two foot
deep, an' it am so sinful cold thet it mighty nigh freezes de nose
offen yer face."

The floors, by dint of repeated scrubbings, were soon, as Rache
declared, "clean 'nough ter eat on." The walls and rafters were
whitened, and the windows curtained with snowy dimity. At the foot of
the bed, in one room, stood a packing-case to serve as a wardrobe, a
valance of calico tacked on its top, concealing the true nature of the
contrivance. Another box, set on end and similarly attired, served as a
dresser; still another as a washstand. This room was sitting-room,
parlor, library, and Susan's sleeping apartment. The other room was
dining-room and kitchen, where Rache was accommodated with a pallet
upon the floor in front of the fire; while, for the present, the rude
loft over the two rooms, reached by means of a ladder in the
sitting-room, was the bedchamber for bride and groom.

Consternation reigned at Oaklands when Betsy's flight was discovered
the morning after the elopement. Her father, after giving orders that
everything on the place which could be considered her personal property
should be packed and sent to her immediately, then assembled the entire
household, struck Betsy's name from the family Bible, and commanded
that no one in his presence should ever again mention her name, and
that no one on the premises should ever dare to hold any communication
with her. Later, that same day, he drove to Lexington, sought a lawyer,
and made a will disinheriting her.