'd be better. But
I treated her mean. I gin her only harsh words and cross looks." Then as
his wife's tears mingled with his, he took her hand, saying, "Don't take
on so, Nancy, you've nothin' to cry for. You's always good to her and kind
o' took up for her when I got sot ag'in her."

Mrs. Middleton could only answer by her tears to this touching attempt at
sympathy, but she finally succeeded in quieting her husband, and before
daybreak, he had forgotten in sleep the injustice done to Julia. All
thoughts of Fanny's marriage for the present were of course given up,
although Mr. Middleton promised that when the autumn came round again he
would surely give his treasure to the care of another.

Two weeks after Julia's burial, all of which time was passed at Mr.
Middleton's, Dr. Lacey went back to New Orleans, having first placed in
Mr. Middleton's care a sum of money for the benefit of Mrs. Dunn,
promising Fanny that with the spring he would come again. He bade her
adieu, praying that nothing might come between them again. Heavily now
dragged the days at Mr. Middleton's, until Uncle Joshua hit upon a plan
which would not only give pleasure to Fanny, but would also relieve the
tedium of his own life. It was nothing more nor less than the erection of
a new house on a grassy lawn, which Fanny had frequently pointed out as
being a good location. Long he revolved in his mind the for and against,
but the remembrance of Julia's wish to have the "old shell fixed up,"
finally decided him. "If 'twasn't good enough for her to be married in, it
surely wasn't good enough for Sunshine."

At the breakfast table he first announced his intention, causing Fanny in
her surprise and joy not only to drop her knife, but also to upset her
coffee. "All right," said he, "I'll do it, if it breaks me. We'll have a
buster," said he, "marble mantletrys, windows that come to the floor,
Brussels carpets, and if you're a mind to, you may have them four-legged
split things, though, Lord knows I'll never eat with them."

In a short time the necessary arrangements were completed. A large number
of men were hired and matters progressed so rapidly that there was every
probability of the house being completed early in June, should the winter
season prove favorable.

Here we may as well relate a little circumstance which occurred to Fanny
during the winter. Bill Jeffrey, who, it will be remembered, had always
felt a predilection for her, emboldened by the ki