in's house a week ago
the girl had noticed that Nathan let others arrange the business details
of contracts and credentials, but his joy at meeting her had obscured the
habitual sadness of his present manner. She had noticed that he was
thinner, but to-night she saw the waste and aging which had consumed him.
The belt line which had bulged comfortably under the vest of five years
ago was flat and flabby, the thick brown hair which had shown scarcely a
thread of white was now grizzled and thin, the ruddy cheeks had fallen in,
and two missing lower teeth made him whistle his s'es through the gap with
a sound unlike his bluff speech of their first acquaintance, so that
without the face which accompanied the words she could hardly have
recognized the connection between the man who had and the man who did
embody the same personality. The cogitations of the first half hour in the
white counterpaned bed that night left Elizabeth in a maze of wonder over
his physical as well as mental collapse.

Aunt Susan was evidently aware of changes also, for she hovered over him
solicitously. Nathan Hornby was a broken man.

School opened auspiciously on Monday; John Hunter came and stayed to walk
home with Elizabeth on Tuesday afternoon, and the glad weeks which
followed were but the happy record of so many rides, walks, and talks, and
the dreams of Elizabeth Farnshaw and John Hunter. He was with the girl
daily. Elizabeth never expressed the smallest desire for anything human
hand could obtain for her that John Hunter did not instantly assure her
that she should receive it. If she stayed to sweep out the schoolhouse,
John would almost certainly appear at the door before she had
finished--his fields commanded a view of her comings and goings--if she
went to Carter's to have a money order cashed he accompanied her; if she
wished to go anywhere she had but to mention it and John Hunter and his
team were at her service.

Elizabeth could not have been otherwise than happy. The spring, with its
freshness and promise, was symbolical of the gladsome currents of her life
that joyous April and May. Her lightest wish was the instant consideration
of the man she admired above all others, and that man, in refinement of
appearance and knowledge of the world, was as far above those of the
country community in which they lived as the sun was above the smoky
kerosene lamps by which the members of that community lighted themselves
to bed.

John Hunter,