. "I sold a man
at Lander's one of the large-sized bottles, and when he had taken some
he felt a good deal better. Then he seems to have argued the thing out
like this: if one dose had relieved the cough, a dozen should drive it
out of him altogether, and he took the lot. He slept for forty-eight
hours afterward, and when I came across him at the settlement he
attacked me with a club. The fault, I may point out, was in his logic.
Perhaps you would like some pictures. I've a rather striking oleograph
of the Kaiser. It must be like him, for two of his subjects recognized
it. One hung it up in his shanty; the other asked me to hold it out, and
then pitched a stove billet through the middle of it. He, however,
produced his dollar; he said he felt so much better after what he'd done
that he didn't grudge it."

"I'm afraid we're not worth powder and shot," said Mrs. Hastings. "Do
you ever remember our buying any tonics or pictures from you?"

"I don't, though I have felt that you ought to have done it." Sproatly,
who paused a moment, turned towards Agatha with a little whimsical bow.
"The professional badinage of an unlicensed dealer in patent medicines
may now and then mercifully cover a good deal of embarrassment. Miss
Ismay has brought something pleasantly characteristic of the Old Country
along with her."

His hostess disregarded the last remark. "Then if you didn't expect to
sell us anything, what did you come for?"

"For supper," answered Sproatly cheerfully. "Besides that, to take Miss
Rawlinson out for a drive. I told her last night it would afford me
considerable pleasure to show her the prairie. We could go round by
Lander's and back."

"Then you will probably come across her somewhere about the straw-pile
with the kiddies."

Sproatly took the hint, and when he went out Mrs. Hastings laughed.

"You would hardly suppose that was a young man of excellent education!"
she exclaimed. "So it's on Winifred's account he has driven over; at
first I fancied it was on yours."

Agatha was astonished, but she smiled. "If Winifred favors him with her
views about young men he will probably be rather sorry for himself. He
lives near you?"

"No," said Mrs. Hastings. "In the summer he lives in his wagon, or under
it, I don't know which. Of course, if he's really taken with Winifred he
will have to alter that."

"But he has only seen her once--you can't mean that he is serious."

"I really can't speak for Sproatly, but i