he had never paid for) so vast a change had taken place within
herself that she had changed her way of seeing nearly everything
outside. Especially had she changed the point of view from which she saw
the Indianapolis project, and she was now quite content to grow up "a
ragweed or a mullein stalk," if she could grow in Dic's fields, and be
cared for by his hand. I believe that when a woman loves a strong man
and contemplates marriage with him, as she is apt to do, a comforting
sense of his protecting care is no small part of her emotions. She may
not consider the matter of her daily bread and raiment, but she feels
that in the harbor of his love she will be safe from the manifold storms
and harms that would otherwise beset her.

Owing to Rita's great change the conversation on the porch was fraught
with a terrible interest. While the others talked, she, as in duty
bound,--girls were to be seen and not heard in those days,--remained
silent. Fortunately the fact that she was a girl did not preclude
thinking. That she did plenteously, and all lines of thought led to the
same question, "How will it affect Dic?" She could come to no
conclusion. Many times she longed to speak, but dared not; so she shut
her lips and her mind and determined to postpone discussing the question
with herself till she should be in bed where she could think quietly.
Meanwhile Williams seated himself beside her on the edge of the porch
and rejoiced over this beautiful rose he had found in the wilderness.
She being a simple country flower, he hoped to enjoy her fragrance for a
time without much trouble in the plucking, and it looked as though his
task would be an easy one. At first the girl was somewhat frightened at
his grandeur; but his easy, chatty conversation soon dispelled her
shyness, and she found him entertaining. He at first sight was charmed
by her beauty. He quickly discovered that her nose, chin, lips,
forehead, and complexion were faultless, and as for those wonderful
eyes, he could hardly draw his own away from them, even for a moment.
But after he had talked with her he was still more surprised to find her
not only bright, but educated, in a rambling way, to a degree little
expected in a frontier girl.

Williams was a Harvard man, and when he discovered that the girl by his
side could talk on subjects other than bucolic, and that she could
furthermore listen to him intelligently, he branched into literature,
art, travel, and kindred