ful and pleasant, and the
hurt that she had felt at first died away. He asked her to go to the barn
with him and was merry and full of small talk and chatter, such as lovers
appreciate, and the girl finally concluded that that must be his naturally
decided manner when suddenly approached on a subject to which he could not
consent. Elizabeth was aware that there was little consideration shown her
at such times, but was resolved not to find fault unless the question were
a vital one. Altogether it was a happy day. Gratitude was a large feature
of Elizabeth's make-up, and there was something about being in the
atmosphere of refinement and beauty which made her accept many little
evidences of inattentiveness on the part of her husband. As she helped
with the cooking, she was conscious of the difference between the kitchen
utensils of this and her own home; as she swept she contrasted the
red-and-green ingrain carpet of the sitting room with the worn and ugly
rag carpet of her mother's house; as she set the table she reflected that
no other house of that community boasted a dining room, and certainly no
other young wife could say she had napkins and a white tablecloth every
day in the week; and there was yet a larger item than these for which the
girl was thankful: no girl she had ever known had married so cultured a
man. Elizabeth looked across the table as she served the pie at dinner and
in spite of every snub was humbly thankful to be a part of that family.
Nor was she a mere snob and deserving of what she got in the way of ill
treatment because she submitted to it; Elizabeth was a young girl of
artistic temperament, craving beauty, and longing for the companionship of
those who talked in terms comprehensible to her at the same time that they
advanced her aesthetic education and possibilities. In proportion as she
valued this thing was she to pay her price.

The price Elizabeth was to pay came at strange and unexpected moments. The
hired man, when he appeared, proved to be Jake Ransom, now a man, and
ready to do a man's work in his simple station. Jake of course knew for
whom he was to work and came into the kitchen to his first meal with his
face wreathed in a sheepish grin.

"I'd better 'a' taken your advice an' gone t' th' high school," he said,
extending his calloused hand to shake. "Only I wouldn't 'a' been workin'
fur you."

He laughed his great hearty guffaw, partly in embarrassment and partly
because he really