teps over yonder, with his wallet
in his hand; and then, Mr. Cheeseman,--then's my time!"

Mr. Cheeseman looked after him as he drove slowly away, his head bent in
thought, a very different Calvin Parks from the one who had burst in so
joyously an hour before with his New Year greeting.

"He's a good feller!" said the old gentleman. "I never see a better
feller than that. I hope he'll come through all right; but there's just
one thing troubles me, and yet I couldn't feel to say it to him. _Where
did Phrony Marlin get that money_?"

CHAPTER XVII

NIGHT

The brown horse had a dull day of it. No cheery remarks, no snatches of
song, no cracking of the whip about his responsive ears. He whinnied
remonstrance and inquiry now and then, but received no reply. Calvin
Parks drove moodily along, his shoulders up to his ears, his head sunk
between them, his eyes staring straight ahead. He could hardly even
bring his mind to trade, and Mrs. Weazel got five cents off the price of
her marshmallows, and was straightway consumed with anguish because she
had not tried for ten.

"What's wrong with you, Cal?" asked Si Slocum at the Corners. "Didn't
the Pie-fillene set good?"

"That's all right!" said Calvin briefly.

"I was clearin' out a lot of old samples," Si went on, "and Phrony come
meechin' and beseechin', the way she does, and I give her the whole
bunch. I mistrusted she'd try 'em on you. Come in, won't ye?"

"I'm in a hurry!" replied Calvin. "Here's the goods you ordered; all
right, be they?"

"Look so!" said Si; "and taste so!" he added, attacking a cinnamon
stick. "Ah! what's your hurry, Cal? Come in and set a bit! It's New
Year's Day, you know, and a holiday by rights."

"I know; and I wish you a happy New Year!" said Calvin soberly; "but I
must be moseyin' along. Gitty up, hossy!"

"He looks bad!" said the storekeeper, shaking his head as he watched
Calvin's retreating figure. "Well, I should think he would, if all they
say is true about him and Phrony Marlin. I was bound I'd get in a hint
about her and her ways; he's too good a sort to be grabbed by them
cattle; but he shut me right up."

It was night when Calvin reached the Marlin gate. Silently he came, for
some hundred yards back he had got out and taken the sleigh-bells from
Hossy's neck, to the great astonishment of the worthy animal. The snow
was soft and deep, and there was no sound as Calvin drove past the
house. At the barn door he paused, and