knew just
what to expect of me."

"Just what to expect?"

"Yes; so's you could rest easy in your mind. It would have to be quite
a ways off yet, naturally, so's people wouldn't say mean things about
us. They might, you know, considering the way you carried on with
women in New York. Not for the world would I have 'em say or even
think that anything had been going on between you and me prior to the
time of Mr. Davis' death, but--but you know how people will talk if
they get a chance. For that reason I think we'd better wait until the
full period of mourning is over. That's only about a year longer, and
it would stop----"

"Are--are you asking me to--to marry you, Mrs. Davis?" gasped Harvey,
clutching the arms of the chair.

"Well, Harvey," said she, kindly, "I am making it easy for you to do
it yourself."

"Holy----" began he, but strangled back the word "Mike," remembering
that Mrs. Davis, a devout church member, abhorred anything that
bordered on the profane.

"Holy what?" asked she, rather coyly for a lady who was not likely to
see sixty again unless reincarnated.

"Matrimony," he completed, as if inspired.

"I know I am a few years older than you, Harvey, but you are so very
much older than I in point of experience that I must seem a mere girl
to you. We could----"

"Mrs. Davis, I--I can't do it," he blurted out, mopping his brow. "I
suppose it means I'll lose my job in the store, but, honestly, I can't
do it. I'm much obliged. It's awfully nice of you to----"

"Don't be too hasty," said she, composedly. "As I said in the
beginning, I want some one to conduct the store in Mr. Davis' place.
But I want that person to be part owner of it. No hired man, you
understand? Now, how would a new sign over the door look, with your
name right after Davis? Davis &--er--er----Oh, dear me!"

"I'll--I'll buy half of the store," floundered he. "I want to buy a
half interest."

"I won't sell," said she, flatly. "I'm determined that the store shall
never go out of the family while I am alive. There's only one way for
you to get around that, and that's by becoming a part of the family."

"Why--why, Mrs. Davis, I'm only thirty years old. You surely don't
mean to say you'd--you'd marry a kid like me? Let's see. My mother,
if she was alive, wouldn't be as old as----"

"Never mind!" interrupted she, with considerable asperity. "We won't
discuss your mother, if you please. Now, Harvey, don't be cruel. I am
very fond of y