ife."

"Prodigious!" cried the farmer, while he rubbed his hands and
laughed--"prodigious, and a man might say impossible. A young lass like
Mary, such a coaxing little poppet, as tender as a lambkin, and as soft
as wool!"

"Flannel won't only run one way; no more won't Mary," said her mother.
"I know her better a long sight than you do; and I say if ever Mary
sets her heart on any one, have him she will, be he cowboy, thief, or
chimney-sweep. So now you know what to expect, Master Anerley."

Stephen Anerley never made light of his wife's opinions in those
few cases wherein they differed from his own. She agreed with him so
generally that in common fairness he thought very highly of her wisdom,
and the present subject was one upon which she had an especial right to
be heard.

"Sophy," he said, as he set up his coat to be off to a cutting of clover
on the hill--for no reaping would begin yet for another month--"the
things you have said shall abide in my mind. Only you be a-watching of
the little wench. Harry Tanfield is the man I would choose for her of
all others. But I never would force any husband on a lass; though stern
would I be to force a bad one off, or one in an unfit walk of life. No
inkle in your mind who it is, or wouldst have told me?"

"Well, I may, or I may not. I never like to speak promiscuous. You
have the first right to know what I think. But I beg you to let me be a
while. Not even to you, Steve, would I say it, without more to go upon
than there is yet. I might do the lass a great wrong in my surmising;
and then you would visit my mistake on me, for she is the apple of your
eye, no doubt."

"There is never such another maid in all York County, nor in England, to
my thinking."

"She is my daughter as well as yours, and I would be the last to make
cheap of her. I will not say another word until I know. But if I am
right--which the Lord forbid--we shall both be ashamed of her, Stephen."

"The Lord forbid! The Lord forbid! Amen. I will not hear another word."
The farmer snatched up his hat, and made off with a haste unusual for
him, while his wife sat down, and crossed her arms, and began to think
rather bitterly. For, without any dream of such a possibility, she was
jealous sometimes of her own child. Presently the farmer rushed back
again, triumphant with a new idea. His eyes were sparkling, and his step
full of spring, and a brisk smile shone upon his strong and ruddy face.

"What a pair of