was to think of
her,--sweeter to see her; sweetest of all to stand by her side and unite
his voice to hers, and feel in his soul the charm of her presence. In
his dreams he sometimes heard her and sat by her side.

Sometimes, while thus lying awake, watching the stars as they went
sailing down the western sky, his thoughts went beyond the present into
the unseen future, whither his father and grandfather had gone. They
sang when on earth, and he thought of them as singing in heaven.
Sometimes he gazed so long and steadily toward the heavenly land, that
his eyes became dim with tears, so sweet and yet so sad the sounds he
seemed to hear,--so near and yet so far away that land.

So the days went by, and the calm and peaceful nights, bringing him to
October,--the glorious harvest month.

And now suddenly people looked shyly at him. There were mysterious
whisperings and averted faces. He met Squire Capias one morning on the
street. "Good morning," said Paul; but the lawyer walked on without
reply. He passed Miss Dobb's house. She sat by the front window, and
glared at him savagely; and yet she seemed to smile, but her countenance
was so thin, wrinkled, and sharp, and her eyes so fierce, her smile so
fiendish, that it put him in mind of a picture he once saw in a horrible
story-book, which told of a witch that carried off little children and
ate them for breakfast. Paul thought that Miss Dobb would like to pick
his bones. But he went on to his work, rejoicing that there were not
many Miss Dobbs in the world.

While hard at it with his paint-brush, Mr. Ketchum entered. He was a
tall, stout man, with black, bushy whiskers, and so strong that he could
take a barrel of cider on his knees and drink out of the bunghole. He
was a sheriff. The rowdies who fell into his hands said it was no use to
try to resist Mr. Ketchum, for he once seized a stubborn fellow by the
heels, and swung him round as he would a cat by the tail, till the
fellow lost his breath and was frightened half out of his wits.

"I have called in to ask you to walk up to Judge Adams's office on a
matter of business," said Mr. Ketchum.

"With pleasure, sir," said Paul, who, now that he had become a surveyor
of land, had been called upon repeatedly to give his testimony in court.

They entered Judge Adams's office, which was crowded with people. Mr.
Noggin, Miss Dobb, Philip, and Bob Swift were there. A buzz ran round
the room. They all looked upon Paul.

"Yo