hts,
hard as a grizzly bear for a man to milk him, but soft in the breastbone
as a young prairie-hen for all folk down upon their nine-pins.

"You may be surprised, miss, to find me write so long. Fact is, the
things won't go out of my mind without it. And it gives me a comfort,
after all I may have said, to put good opinions upon paper. If he never
should turn up again, my language will be to his credit; whereas if
he do come back, with the betting a horse to a duck against it, to
his pride he will read this testimonial of yours, faithfully, MARTIN
CLOGFAST.

"P.S.--Can't carry on like this much longer. Enough to rip one's heart
up. You never would know the old place, miss. The heads of the horses is
as long as their tails with the way they carry them; the moss is as big
as a Spaniard's beard upon the kitchen door-sill; and the old dog howls
all day and night, like fifty thousand scalpers. Suan saith, if you was
to come back, the lad might run home after you. 'Tisn't the lad I cares
about so much, but poor old Sawyer, at his time of life, swallowed up in
the wilderness."

CHAPTER L

THE PANACEA

As if my own trouble were not enough, so deeply was I grieved by this
sad news that I had a great mind to turn back on my own and fly to
far-off disasters. To do so appeared for the moment a noble thing, and
almost a duty; but now, looking back, I perceive that my instinct was
right when it told me to stay where I was, and see out my own sad story
first. And Betsy grew hot at the mere idea of my hankering after a
miller's affairs, as she very rudely expressed it. To hear about lords
and ladies, and their crimes and adventures, was lovely; but to dwell
upon people of common birth, and in trade, was most unbeseeming. A man
who mended his own mill, and had hands like horn--well, even she was of
better blood than that, she hoped.

Before these large and liberal views had fairly been expounded, Major
Hockin arrived, with his mind in such a state that he opened his watch
every second.

"Erema, I must speak to you alone," he cried; "no, not even you, Mrs.
Strouss, if you please. If my ward likes to tell you, why, of course she
can; but nobody shall say that I did. There are things that belong to
the family alone. The most loyal retainers--you know what I mean."

"General, I was not aware that you belonged to the family. But this way,
Sir; this way, if you please. There is lath and plaster to that wall,
and a crack in