so we tried to make simple
things taste nice. Do you like my way of preparing that old-fashioned
dish?"

"I'm going to show you how I like it," he replied, nodding approvingly.
"Well, what have you been doing besides tempting me to eat too much?"

"What you said, resting. You told me not to get up much of a dinner,
so I very lazily prepared what you see. I've been lying on the lounge
most of the morning."

"Famous, and you feel better?"

"Yes, I think I shall soon get well and strong," she replied, looking
at him gratefully.

"Well, well! My luck's turned at last. I once thought it never would,
but if this goes on--well, you can't know what a change it is for the
better. I can now put my mind on my work."

"You've been plowing all the morning, haven't you?" she ventured, and
there was the pleased look in her eyes that he already liked to see.

"Yes," he replied, "and I must keep at it several days to get in all
the oats I mean to sow. If this weather holds, I shall be through next
week."

"I looked in the milk-room a while ago. Isn't there anything I could
do there this afternoon?"

"No. I'll attend to everything there. It's too damp for you yet.
Keep on resting. Why, bless me! I didn't think you'd be well enough
to do anything for a week."

"Indeed," she admitted, "I'm surprised at myself. It seems as if a
crushing weight had been lifted off my mind and that I was coming right
up. I'm so glad, for I feared I might be feeble and useless a long
time."

"Well, Alida, if you had been, or if you ever are, don't think I'll be
impatient. The people I can't stand are those who try to take
advantage of me, and I tell you I've had to contend with that
disposition so long that I feel as if I could do almost anything for
one who is simply honest and tries to keep her part of an agreement.
But this won't do. I've enjoyed my own dinner so much that I've half
forgotten that the horses haven't had theirs yet. Now will you scold
if I light my pipe before I go out?"

"Oh, no! I don't mind that."

"No good-natured fibs! Isn't smoke disagreeable?"

She shook her head. "I don't mind it at all," she said, but her sudden
paleness puzzled him. He could not know that he had involuntarily
recalled the many times that she had filled the evening pipe for a man
who now haunted her memory like a specter.

"I guess you don't like it very much," he said, as he passed out.
"Well, no matter! It's getting so mil