y."

He led the way to the apartment that Mrs. Mumpson had occupied and said
regretfully, "I'm sorry the room looks so bare and comfortless, but
that will all be mended in time. When you come down, we'll have some
coffee and supper."

She soon reappeared in the kitchen, and he continued, "Now I'll show
you that I'm not such a very helpless sort of man, after all; so if
you're sick you needn't worry. I'm going to get you a good cup of
coffee and broil you a piece of steak."

"Oh! Please let me--" she began.

"No, can't allow you to do anything tonight but sit in that chair. You
promised to mind, you know," and he smiled so genially that she smiled
back at him although tears came into her eyes.

"I can't realize it all," she said in a low voice. "To think how this
day began and how it is ending!"

"It's ending in a poor man's kitchen, Alida. It was rather rough to
bring you in here first, but the parlor is cold and comfortless.

"I would rather be brought here. It seems to me that it must be a
light and cheerful room."

"Yes, the sun shines in these east windows, and there's another window
facing the south, so it's light all day long."

She watched him curiously and with not a little self-reproach as he
deftly prepared supper. "It's too bad for me to sit idle while you do
such things, yet you do everything so well that I fear I shall seem
awkward. Still, I think I do at least know how to cook a little."

"If you knew what I've had to put up with for a year or more, you
wouldn't worry about satisfying me in this respect. Except when old
Mrs. Wiggins was here, I had few decent meals that I didn't get
myself," and then, to cheer her up, he laughingly told her of Mrs.
Mumpson's essay at making coffee. He had a certain dry humor, and his
unwonted effort at mimicry was so droll in itself that Alida was
startled to hear her own voice in laughter, and she looked almost
frightened, so deeply had she been impressed that it would never be
possible or even right for her to laugh again.

The farmer was secretly much pleased at his success. If she would
laugh, be cheerful and not brood, he felt sure she would get well and
be more contented. The desperate view she had taken of her misfortunes
troubled him, and he had thought it possible that she might sink into
despondency and something like invalidism; but that involuntary bubble
of laughter reassured him. "Quiet, wholesome, cheerful life will
restore her to hea