CHAPTER V

When Henry went home to his wife and his father-in-law, he was
confident that he had a very fine bargain; when he told them what he
had heard from his aunt and Mr. Archer, what he had seen with his own
eyes, and what he had done with Mr. Mix, he expected first, sympathy,
and afterwards, unqualified approval. Within the next five minutes,
however, Henry was sitting limp and baffled; and wishing that he had
Bob Standish to support him. Bob, at least, would understand.

"Holy Smoke!" he said, weakly. "_I_ didn't suppose you'd take it like
that! Why, I--I feel as if I'd been run over by a steam-roller with
Taft at the wheel!"

Judge Barklay had long since forgiven his daughter, but he hadn't
quite forgiven Henry. "Do you want my honest opinion? I should say
you're suffering from two extreme causes--exaggerated ego and cold
feet."

Henry flushed. He had the most profound respect for Judge Barklay--a
man who had preferred to be a city magistrate, and to be known
throughout the whole state for his wisdom and humanity, instead of
keeping up his law practice, at five times the income--and Henry, like
every one else, valued the Judge's opinions. "You don't mean you think
I'd _run_ the miserable little peanut-stand, do you? And keep books on
it as if it had been the Federal Reserve Bank?"

"It strikes me," said the Judge, "that both of us would rather have
you run a peanut-stand than--I'm using your own analogy--than spend
your whole life eating peanuts. Why, Henry, your uncle _wanted_ you to
be shocked--wanted you to be mad enough to stand up on your hind legs
and fight."

Henry looked at his wife. "What are _you_ going to suggest? Hire a
snake-charmer and a wild-man-from-Borneo and an infant pachyderm and a
royal ring-tailed gyasticutus, and pull off a side-show after the main
tent's closed?"

"Oh, _Henry_! Can't you _see_ what a lark it would be?"

"Lark?" he repeated, hazily. "Lark? You've got the wrong bird. It's
crow."

"No, but Henry dear, you aren't going to be a quitter, are you?"

"Wife of my bosom, do you realize what you're talking about? It would
cost a thousand dollars just to make the place _clean_. It'll cost
three or four more to make it attractive enough to get anybody inside
of it. And I haven't got the price."

"What's the matter with a mortgage?" demanded the Judge. "And you've
got a car, haven't you? You've got a saddle-horse. You've got all
kinds of junk you can turn into