nd asked him, in
confidence, what he thought of Proudfit's construction company.

"Well, of co'se, John, you know how fah Proudfit is fum being an a-able
man; and so does he. He's evm fool enough to think he can sharpen his
wits with whiskey, which _you_ know, March, that if that was so I'd
myself be as sharp as a ra-azor. But _I_ don't suspicion but what
everything's clean and square--Oh, I wouldn't swear nobody does; you
know, yo'self, what double-ba'lled fools some men ah. I reckon just
about everybody likes the arrangement, though; faw whetheh one company
aw the otheh, aw both, make money, the money sta-ays. Yes, of co'se, we
know he owes it to Garnet's influence, but I suspicion Garnet done as he
did mo' to gratify Miz Proudfit's ambitions than fum any notion o' they
being big money in it faw anybody; you know how fawnd Garnet's always
been of both of 'em, you know. Oh, no, whateveh the thing is, it's
square! You might know that by Pettigrew bein' its seccata'y; faw to eh
is _human_--which Pettigrew _ain't_."

John mounted a horse and started for Widewood. He had to stop and shake
hands with Parson Tombs over his front palings, and make an honest
effort to feel annoyed by the old man's laughter-laden compliments on
his energy, enterprise, and perspicacity. At the Halliday cottage he saw
Fannie clipping roses from the porch trellis for Martha Salter, who
stood by. She waved her hand.

"John March, I do believe you were going to gallop right a-past us
without stopping!" said Fannie, as he tardily wheeled and rode slowly up
to the low gate.

He answered awkwardly, and when she gave him a rose, looked across at
Miss Salter, whose gravity increased his discomfort. A dash up the slope
beyond the Academy was a partial relief only while it lasted, and at the
top, where his horse dropped into a trot, he lifted the flower as if to
toss it over the hedge, but faltered, bent forward, and stuck it into
the animal's head-stall. As he straightened up he found himself in the
company of a tall rider going his way, whom he had passed on the
slope--the president of Suez University.

"I believe you're not often overtaken, once you're in the saddle, Mr.
March."

John "reckoned that was so," and said that as he came up the hill he had
been so busy thinking, that he had not recognized the quiet gray man in
time to salute him. The poverty-chastened gentleman had "seen how it
was," and began to speak of the great changes impending o