from the expression
of his face than from his words.

"Alida Armstrong is your name, Mr. Watterly tells me?"

"Yes, sir."

"Well, Alida, I want to have a plain business talk with you. That's
nothing to be nervous and worried about, you know. As I told you, I've
heard your story. It has made me sorry for you instead of setting me
against you. It has made me respect you as a right-minded woman, and I
shall give you good proof that my words are true. At the same time, I
shan't make any false pretenses to what isn't true and couldn't be
true. Since I've heard your story, it's only fair you should hear
mine, and I ought to tell it first."

He went over the past very briefly until he came to the death of his
wife. There was simple and homely pathos in the few sentences with
which he referred to this event. Then more fully he enlarged upon his
efforts and failure to keep house with hired help. Unconsciously, he
had taken the best method to enlist her sympathy. The secluded cottage
and hillside farm became realities to her fancy. She saw how the man's
heart clung to his home, and his effort to keep it touched her deeply.

"Oh!" she thought, "I do wish there was some way for me to go there.
The loneliness of the place which drove others away is the chief
attraction for me. Then it would be pleasant to work for such a man
and make his home comfortable for him. It's plain from his words and
looks that he's as honest and straightforward as the day is long. He
only wants to keep his home and make his living in peace."

As he had talked her nervous embarrassment passed away, and the deep
sense of her own need was pressing upon her again. She saw that he
also was in great need. His business talk was revealing deep trouble
and perplexity. With the quick intuitions of a woman, her mind went
far beyond his brief sentences and saw all the difficulties of his lot.
His feeling reference to the loss of his wife proved that he was not a
coarse-natured man. As he spoke so plainly of his life during the past
year, her mind was insensibly abstracted from everything but his want
and hers, and she thought his farmhouse afforded just the secluded
refuge she craved. As he drew near the end of his story and hesitated
in visible embarrassment, she mustered courage to say timidly, "Would
you permit a suggestion from me?"

"Why, certainly."

"You have said, sir, that your business and means would not allow you
to keep two in