women asked you to come in,' he said.

"'Miss Pryor was so kind,' I answered, 'but I enter no man's house
without his permission. May I talk with your daughter an hour, and
your wife, if she cares to see me?'

"'It makes no earthly difference to me,' he said, which was not
gracious, but might have been worse, so I thanked him, and went back to
the house. When I knocked the second time, the Princess came, and I
told her the word was that it made 'no difference to her father' if I
came in, so she opened the door widely, took my hat and offered me a
seat. Then she went to the next room and said: 'Mother, father has
given Mr. Stanton permission to pay us a call. Do you feel able to
meet him?' She came at once, offering her hand and saying: 'I have
already met Mr. Stanton so often, really, we should have the privilege
of speaking.'"

"What did she mean by that?" asked mother.

"She meant that I have haunted the road passing their place for two
years, and she'd seen me so frequently that she came to recognize me."

"Umph!" said mother.

"Laddie tell on!" I begged.

"Well, I sharpened all the wits I had and went to work. I never tried
so hard in my life to be entertaining. Of course I had to feel my way.
I'd no idea what would interest a delicate, high-bred lady"--mother
sniffed again--"so I had to search and probe, and go by guess until I
saw a shade of interest, then I worked in more of the same. It was
easy enough to talk to the Princess--all young folks have a lot in
common, we could get along on fifty topics; it was different with the
housebound mother. I did my best, and after a while Mr. Pryor came in.
I asked him if any of his horses had been attacked with the trouble
some of the neighbours were having, and told him what it was. He had
the grace to thank me. He said he would tell Thomas not to tie his
horse at the public hitching rack when he went to town, and once he got
started, he was wild to talk with a man, and I'd no chance to say a
word to the women. He was interested in our colleges, state, and
national laws, in land development, and everything that all live men
are. When a maid announced dinner I apologized for having stayed so
long, and excused myself, because I had been so interested, but Mrs.
Pryor merely said: 'I'm waiting to be offered your arm.'

"Well, you should have seen me drop my hat and step up. I did my best,
and while I talked to him a little, I made it most to the wome