CHAPTER II.

DAB'S OLD CLOTHES GET A NEW BOY TO FIT.


Hamilton Morris was a very promising young man, of some thirty summers.
He had been an "orphan" for a dozen years; and the wonder was that he
should so long have lived alone in the big, square-built house his
father left him. At all events, Miranda Kinzer was just the wife for
him.

Miranda's mother had seen that at a glance, the moment her mind was
settled about the house. As to that and his great, spreading,
half-cultivated farm, all either of them needed was ready money and
management.

These were blessings Ham was now made reasonably sure of, on his return
from his wedding-trip, and he was likely to appreciate them.

As for Dabney Kinzer, he was in no respect overcome by the novelty and
excitement of the wedding-day. All the rest of it, after the departure
of Ham Morris and the bride, he devoted himself to such duties as were
assigned him, with a new and grand idea steadily taking shape in his
mind. He felt as if his brains too, like his body, were growing. Some of
his mother's older and more intimate friends remained with her all day,