fortune and prosperity was nothing to her, yet she could praise him for
it. So, little by little, he gave her a peep into his affairs and found
she was one of them rare people who can feel quite a bit of honest
interest in their neighbour's good luck, with no after-clap of sourness,
because their own ain't so bright.

'Twas natural the woman should contrast her horseman with Jonas and wish
he'd got the same orderly sort of mind; but she had the wit to see that it
takes all sorts to make a world, and while William liked money a lot
better than earning it, Jonas liked the earning and didn't set no lustful
store on the stuff itself.

Still money's a power, and there's no doubt 'twas the hidden power of his
purse which presently tempted the carpenter to a most unheard of piece of
work. Never a man less likely to do anything out of the common you might
have thought, yet life worked on him and time and chance prompted until
that everyday sort of chap was finally lifted up to an amazing deed.

Round about a year after his wife died, the thought came to him and
gradually growed till it mastered him and led to a wonderful stroke. And
it showed, if that wanted showing, that you never know what gifts be hid
in anybody, or what the simplest man will rise to in the way of craft,
given the soil to ripe his wits and the prompting to lift him up.

Jonas found himself more and more interested in the love affair of William
and Milly, and having studied the situation in all its bearings and
measured the characters of the man and woman and taken the subject also to
the Throne of Grace, for he was a prayerful creature, he finally
considered that it now lay in his power to make the first move, since that
had to come from him. And the second move would have to be made by William
White; and it all depended upon William whether there remained an opening
left for Jonas, or whether the affair was closed. For he was a most
honourable chap in all things and never one to best a neighbour even if
opportunity offered.

Some men, for example, might have tried to tempt Milly Bassett away from
William and hold out the attractions to be got with such a husband as
Jonas; but no such thought ever darkened the carpenter's mind. He'd
certainly got to a pitch when he dearly wanted Milly, for with his soul at
rest and memory growing fainter, she seemed to reflect all the beauties of
his late partner, along with several of her own; but Jonas well knew that