ted to many a piece of trickery--almost treachery--to
pay my premiums. I could tell you something, but you would hate me for
it."

"No, I wouldn't."

"Well, I would better not tell it. What a charming young woman!"

"Yes. Blakemore calls her a 'peach.'"

"A vulgarism not altogether unbefitting," said the Professor, stumbling
along in the dark. "She has not the dash of the American girl, perhaps,
but I rather admire her for the lack of it. Well, our roads part here.
From now until morning I must work on my medical paper."

CHAPTER X.

HIS NICKNAME.

The hot weather fled before a cool mist that came floating over from
Lake Michigan. A cold rain began to fall. Cows lowed, and dogs, soonest
of all creatures to feel a change in the atmosphere, crouched shivering
in the doorways. Milford worked in the barn till there was nothing more
to do, and then he went to the house and sat down with a newspaper. But
he could not find interest in it. He threw down the paper and from his
bag he took out a worn copy of Whittier. It was a day when we like to
read the old things which long ago we committed to memory. We know the
word before we reach it, but reaching it, we find it full of a new
meaning. But the hours are long when the heart is restless. Out in the
woods the mist hung in the tree-tops as if vapor were the world's
slow-moving time, balking among the dripping leaves. From a longing
Milford's desire to go over to Mrs. Stuvic's became a feverish throb.
But the old woman's grin and the red lantern waved in his face
constantly arose before him. He strove to recall what the girl had said.
He could not find the words that she had spoken, but he remembered that
he had felt an encouragement. He went out in the drizzle, to the knoll
in the oat field, and stood there, gazing toward the house. He cursed
himself for a fool and returned to his cheerless shelter. The hired man
sat at the dining-room table, playing solitaire with a pack of greasy
cards.

"I worked this thing the other day, but it won't come now," he said.

"But what have you done when you do it?"

"Well, not much of anything, but you're on top. Heigho! I'd almost
rather work than to sit around such a day as this. I don't believe we
can do anything in the field to-day. Think so?"

"No. Thinking about going somewhere?"

"Not exactly. Didn't know but I might go over to see my girl. Told me
the other day she was lonesome without me. And when you get a woman