som rose and fell as Nal sprang from the fence and seized her
hand.

A simple courtship truly! Love had written in plain characters upon
their radiant faces an artless tale. With fingers interlaced they
gazed tranquilly at each other, eloquently silent.

Then the man bent his head and kissed her.

* * * * *

"Marry my Mandy!" cried old man Bobo, a few hours later. "Why, Nal, ye
must be crazy! Ye're both children."

"I'm twenty-two," said Mr. Roberts, expanding his broad chest, and
towering six inches at least above his companion, "an' Mandy will be
eighteen next December, and," he added with dignity, "I love Mandy an'
Mandy loves me."

"Now, I ain't a goin' to git mad," said Mr. Bobo, stamping upon the
ground and gnashing his teeth, "but I'll give ye a pointer, Nal
Roberts; you go right home an' stay there! I need Mandy the worst
kind, an' ye know it. I couldn't spare the girl nohow. An' there's
another thing; I won't have no sparkin' aroun' this place. No huggin'
an' kissin'. There's none for me an' there'll be none for you. Love,
pah! I reckon that's all ye've got. Love! Ye make me sick to my
stomach, Nal Roberts. Ye've bin readin' dime novels, that's what ails
ye. Love! There ain't no dividen's in love."

"Naterally," observed Mr. Roberts, "ye know nothin' of love, Mister
Bobo, an' ye never will. I'm sorry for ye, too. Life without love is
like eatin' bull-beef jerky without _salsa_!"

"I've raised Mandy," continued Mr. Bobo, ignoring this interruption,
"very keerful. I give her good schoolin', victuals, an' a heap o'
clothes. I've knocked some horse sense into the child. There ain't no
nonsense in Mandy, an' ye won't find her equal in the land for
peddlin' fruit an' sech. I've kep' her rustlin' from morn till night.
When a woman idles, the ole Nick gits away with her mighty quick. I've
salted that down many a long year. No, sir, Mandy is mine, an' Mandy
will do jest as I say. She minds me well, does Mandy. She won't marry
till I give the word--an' I ain't agoin' to give the word."

He snapped his lantern jaws, and grinned in Nal's face. The
selfishness which rated its sordid interest paramount to any
consideration for others appalled the young man. How could he stem
this tide of avarice, this torrent of egoism?

"So love don't go?" said Nal shortly.

"No, sonny, love don't go--leastways not with me."

"Mebbe you think I'm after the grease," remarked Nal with
deliberation, "but