governor of the
state once said that she could beat anybody frying a chicken, and----'"

"Confound his impudence!" exclaimed the Major, grinding the floor as he
wheeled about, "he's performing the offices that belong to me. And I
won't stand it."

"The offices that did belong to you, dear, but you have washed your
hands of them."

"Have I? Well, we'll see about that. I'll send over there and have
everything put to rights. No, I'll send the carriage and have them
brought home. I'll be--I say I won't be made a scape-goat of in this
way. Why, confound----"

"John."

"Yes, I understand, but I won't put up with it any longer. I'll send
Tom over there--I'll send the law over there and bring them home under
arrest."

She shook her head. "No, it will be of no use to send for them. Louise
will not come, and you know she won't. Besides, we can make her just as
comfortable there as here. It will not be for long, so let her have her
own way."

"By the blood, she has had it!"

"John, have you forgotten that you are a member of the church?"

"That's all right. But do you mean by member of the church that I am to
draw in my head like a high-land terrapin every time anything is said to
me? Am I to be brow-beaten by everybody just because I belong to the
church? Oh, it's a happy day for a woman when she can squash her husband
with the church. I gad, it seems that all a married woman wants with a
church is to hit her husband on the head with it."

"John, now you are the echo of old Gid."

"I'm not and you know it, but there are times when a man would be
excusable for being the echo of the devil. But for gracious sake don't
cry. Enough to make a man butt his head against the wall. Just as a man
thinks a woman is stronger than a lion she tunes up and cries. There,
Margaret, let it all go. There." He put his arm about her. "Everything
will come out all right. I am wrong and I confess it. I am bull-headed
and as mean as a dog."

"No, you are not," she protested, wiping her eyes.

"Yes, I am and I see it now. You are always right. And you may manage
this affair just as you see fit. Poor little girl. But never mind, it
will all come right. Let us walk down the lane. It is beautiful down
there. The frost has painted things up for you; the sumac bushes are
flaming and the running briars on the fences are streams of fire. Come
on." He took her by the hand and led her away.

CHAPTER IX.

Within a few days a great chang