his own land. His wife was looking out the window, too.
If we'd been out in the road or anywhere else--but what's the use? I'm
glad now it turned out as it has for I've too much on my mind for
lawsuits, and the less one has to do with such cattle as Weeks the
better. Well, you see I'm alone again, and I'm going to go it alone.
I'm going to sell my cows and give up the dairy, and the thing I wanted
help in most is the putting this auction bill in shape; also advice as
to whether I had better try to sell here in town or up at the farm."

Tom shook his head dubiously and scarcely glanced at the paper. "Your
scheme don't look practical to me," he said. "I don't believe you can
run that farm alone without losing money. You'll just keep on going
behind till the first thing you know you'll clap a mortgage on it.
Then you'll soon be done for. What's more, you'll break down if you try
to do both outdoor and indoor work. Busy times will soon come, and you
won't get your meals regularly; you'll be living on coffee and anything
that comes handiest; your house will grow untidy and not fit to live
in. If you should be taken sick, there'd be no one to do for you.
Lumbermen, hunters, and such fellows can rough it alone awhile, but I
never heard of a farm being run by man-power alone. Now as to selling
out your stock, look at it. Grazing is what your farm's good for
mostly. It's a pity you're so bent on staying there. Even if you
didn't get very much for the place, from sale or rent, you'd have
something that was sure. A strong, capable man like you could find
something to turn your hand to. Then you could board in some
respectable family, and not have to live like Robinson Crusoe. I've
thought it over since we talked last, and if I was you I'd sell or
rent."

"It's too late in the season to do either," said Holcroft dejectedly.
"What's more, I don't want to, at least not this year. I've settled
that, Tom. I'm going to have one more summer on the old place, anyway,
if I have to live on bread and milk."

"You can't make bread."

"I'll have it brought from town on the stage."

"Well, it's a pity some good, decent woman--There, how should I come to
forget all about HER till this minute? I don't know whether it would
work. Perhaps it would. There's a woman here out of the common run.
She has quite a story, which I'll tell you in confidence. Then you can
say whether you'd like to employ her or not. If you WILL stay on