f up swift. First, as
to Legg. Legg's a very good man, indeed, and I'd be the first to praise
him. He's all you say--or nearly all--and I've often been very much
impressed by him. And if he was anybody's servant but yours, I dare say
I'd have tempted him to 'The Tiger' before now. But there are some that
shine in the lead, like you and me, and some that only show their full
worth when they've got to obey. Job can obey to perfection; but I'm not
so sure if he's fitted to command."

"Remember," she said, "that if I say 'no' to the man, I lose him. He
can't be my right hand no more then, because he'd leave. And my heart
sinks at the thought of another potman at my age."

"When you say 'potman' you come to the root of the matter, and your age
has nothing to do with it," answered Richard. "The natural instinct at
such times is to advise against, and when man or woman asks a fellow
creature as to the wisdom of marrying, they'll always pull a long face
and find fifty good reasons why not. But I'm taking this in a larger
spirit. There's no reason why you shouldn't marry again, and you'd make
another as happy as you did your first, no doubt. But Job Legg is a
potman; he's been a potman for a generation; he thinks like a potman,
and his outlook in life is naturally the potman outlook. Mind, I'm not
saying anything against him as a man when I tell you so; I'm only
looking at him now as a husband for you. He's got religion and a good
temper, and dollops of sense, and I'll even go so far as to say, seeing
that he is now a man of money, that he was within his right to offer, if
he did it in a modest manner. But I won't say more than that. He's
simple and faithful and a servant worthy of all respect, but that man
haven't the parts to rise to mastership. A good stick, but if he was
your crutch, he'd fail you. For my part, I'm very sure that people of
much greater importance than him would offer for you if they knew you
were for a husband."

"I wouldn't say I was for a husband, Richard. The idea never came into
my mind till Job Legg put it there."

"Just your modesty. There's no more reason why you shouldn't wed than
why I shouldn't. You're a comely and highly marriageable person still,
and nobody knows it better than what I do."

"You advise against, then?"

"In that quarter, yes. I'm thinking of you, and only you, and I don't
believe Job is quite man enough for the part. Leave it, however, for
twenty-four hours."

"He was to