u.
Well, goodbye, I'm in a hurry. Your heart's in the right place, Tom,
and some day you'll come out and take dinner with me. One dinner, such
as she'll give you, will bring you round. One of our steady dishes is
a bunch of flowers and I enjoy 'em, too. What do you think of that for
a hard-headed old fellow like me?"

Some men are chilled by public disapproval and waver under it, but
Holcroft was thereby only the more strongly confirmed in his course.
Alida had won his esteem as well as his good will, and it was the
instinct of his manhood to protect and champion her. He bought twice
as many flowers and seeds as she had asked for, and also selected two
simple flower vases; then started on his return with the feeling that
he had a home.

Alida entered upon her duties to the poultry with almost the pleasure
of a child. She first fed them, then explored every accessible nook
and hiding place in the barn and outbuildings. It was evident that
many of the biddies had stolen their nests, and some were brooding upon
them with no disposition to be disturbed. Out of the hundred or more
fowls on the place, a good many were clucking their maternal instincts,
and their new keeper resolved to put eggs under all except the flighty
ones that left their nests within two or three days' trial. As the
result of her search, the empty egg basket was in a fair way to be full
again very soon. She gloated over her spoils as she smilingly assured
herself, "I shall take him at his word. I shall spend nearly all I
make this year in fixing up the old house within and without, so he'll
scarcely know it."

It was eleven o'clock before Holcroft drove to the door with the
flowers, and he was amply repaid by her pleasure in receiving them.
"Why, I only expected geraniums," she said, "and you've bought half a
dozen other kinds."

"And I expected to get my own coffee this morning and a good breakfast
was given me instead, so we are quits."

"You're probably ready for your dinner now, if it is an hour earlier
than usual. It will be ready in ten minutes."

"Famous! That will give me a good long afternoon. I say, Alida, when
do you want the flower beds made?"

"No hurry about them. I shall keep the plants in the window for a week
or two. It isn't safe to put them outdoors before the last of May.
I'll have some slips ready by that time."

"Yes, I know. You'll soon have enough to set out an acre."

The days of another week passed qu