lth," he thought, as he put his favorite beverage and
the sputtering steak on the table. "Now," he said, placing a chair at
the table, "you can pour me a cup of coffee."

"I'm glad I can do something," she answered, "for I can't get over the
strangeness of being so waited on. Indeed, everything that was
unexpected or undreamt of has happened," and there was just the
faintest bit of color on her cheeks as she sat down opposite him.

Few men are insensible to simple, natural, womanly grace, and poor
Holcroft, who so long had been compelled to see at his table "perfect
terrors," as he called them, was agreeably impressed by the contrast
she made with the Mumpson and Malony species. Alida unconsciously had
a subtle charm of carriage and action, learned in her long past and
happy girlhood when all her associations were good and refined. Still,
in its truest explanation, this grace is native and not acquired; it is
a personal trait. Incapable of nice analysis or fine definitions, he
only thought, "How much pleasanter it is to see at the table a quiet,
sensible woman instead of a 'peculiar female!'" and it was not long
before he supplemented her remark by saying, "Perhaps things are
turning out for both of us better than we expected. I had made up my
mind this morning to live here like a hermit, get my own meals, and all
that. I actually had the rough draught of an auction bill in my
pocket,--yes, here it is now,--and was going to sell my cows, give up
my dairy, and try to make my living in a way that wouldn't require any
woman help. That's what took me up to Tom Watterly's; I wanted him to
help me put the bill in shape. He wouldn't look at it, and talked me
right out of trying to live like Robinson Crusoe, as he expressed it.
I had been quite cheerful over my prospects; indeed, I was almost happy
in being alone again after having such terrors in the house. But, as I
said, Watterly talked all the courage and hope right out of me, and
made it clear that I couldn't go it alone. You see, Tom and I have
been friends since we were boys together, and that's the reason he
talks so plain to me."

"He has a good, kind heart," said Alida. "I don't think I could have
kept up at all had it not been for his kindness."

"Yes, Tom's a rough diamond. He don't make any pretenses, and looks
upon himself as a rather hard case, but I fancy he's doing kind things
in his rough way half the time. Well, as we were talking, he
remembere