ted from the pan with a spoon,
browned potatoes, and to his surprise, fresh milk. "Ah done druv ouah
ol' cow ovah, suh," explained Aunt Daphne. "'Case she gotter be milked,
er she run dry ez de Red Sea fo' de chillen ob Izril."

"Aunt Daphne," inquired Valiant with his mouth full, "what do you call
this green thing?"

"Dat? Dat's jes' turnip-tops, suh, wid er hunk er bacon in de pot.
Laws-er-me, et cert'n'y do me good ter see yo' git arter it dat way,
suh. Reck'n yo' got er appertite! Hyuh, Hyuh!"

"I have. I never guessed it before, and it's a magnificent discovery.
However, it suggests unwelcome reflections. Aunt Daphne, how long do you
estimate a man can dine like this on--well, say on a hundred dollars?"

"Er hun'ed dollahs, suh? Dat's er right smart heap o' money, 'deed et
is! Well, suh, 'pen's on whut yo' raises. Ef yo' raises yo' own
gyarden-sass, en chick'ns en aigs, Ah reck'n yo' kin live longah dan dat
ar Methoosalum, en still haf mos' of it in de ol' stockin'."

"Ah! I can grow all those things myself, you think?"

"Yo' cert'n'y _kin_," said Aunt Daphne. "Ev'ybody do. De chick'ns done
peck fo' deyselves en de yuddah things--yo' o'ny gotter 'courage 'em en
dey jes' grows."

Valiant ate his dessert with a thoughtful smile wrinkling his brow. As
he pushed back his chair he smote his hands together and laughed aloud.
"Back to the soil!" he said. "John Valiant, farmer! The miracle of it is
that it sounds good to me. I _want_ to raise my own grub and till my own
soil. I want to be my own man! And I'm beginning to see my way. Crops
will have to wait for another season, but there's water and pasture for
cattle now. There's timber--lots of it--on that hillside, too. I must
look into that."

He filled his pipe and climbed the staircase to the upper floor. Here
the lower hall was duplicated. He proceeded slowly and carefully with
the dusty task of window-opening. There were many bedrooms with great
four-posted, canopied beds and old-fashioned carved furniture of
mahogany and curly-maple, and in one he found a great cedar-lined chest
filled with bed-linen and napery. In these rooms were more evidences of
decay. They showed in faded hues, streaked and discolored finishings,
yellow mildew beneath the glass of framed engravings and unsightly
stains on walls and floors from leaks in the roof. On a dainty
dressing-table had been left a pin-cushion; its stuffing was strewn in a
tiny trickling trail to a mouse-hole in