e fact that now that he was sufficiently well to get about the
kitchen and sit in the well-house porch, of a sunny morning, Maria
Maxwell had given up the habit of running over several times a day to
give him his medicine and be sure that the kettle boiled and his tea was
freshly drawn, instead of being what she called "stewed bitterness" that
had stood on the leaves all day.

Whichever it was, he felt wretched in body and mind, and began to think
himself neglected and was consequently aggrieved. He hesitated a few
minutes before he opened the door leading to _The Man's_ part of the
house, took a few steps into the square hall, and called "Mr. Blake" in
a quavering voice; but no answer came, as the bachelor had not yet
returned from the reservoir.

Going back, he settled heavily into the rocking-chair and groaned,--it
was not from real pain, simply he had relaxed his grip and was making
himself miserable,--then he began to talk to himself.

"_She_ doesn't come in so often now _he's_ come home, and _he_ fights
shy o' the place, thinkin' mebbe _she's_ around, and they both wants to
buy. _He's_ offered me thirty-five hundred cash, and _she's_ offered me
thirty hundred cash, which is all the place's worth, for it'll take
another ten hundred to straighten out the house, with new winder frames,
floorin' 'nd plaster 'nd shingles, beams and sills all bein'
sound,--when the truth is I don't wish ter sell nohow, yet can't afford
to hold! I don't see light noway 'nd I'm feelin' another turn comin'
when I was nigh ready ter git about agin to Miss'ss Penrose flower
poles. O lordy! lordy! I wish I had some more o' that settling medicine
Maria Maxwell brought me" (people very seldom spoke of that young woman
except by her complete name). "If I had my wind, I'd yell over to her to
come up! Yes, I vow I would!"

David, the hound, who had been lying asleep before the stove, in which
the fire had died away, got up, stretched himself, and, going to his
master, after gazing in his face for several minutes, licked his hands
thoroughly and solemnly, in a way totally different from the careless
and irresponsible licks of a joyous dog; then raising his head gave a
long-drawn bay that finally broke from its melancholy music and
degenerated into a howl.

Amos must have dozed in his chair, for it seemed only a moment when a
knock sounded on the side door and, without waiting for a reply, Maria
Maxwell entered, a cape thrown about her shoulder