swelled out on the back of his neck an' unbuttoned his collar.
Then he turned an' said: 'My daughter is too good for this town,
an' I don't intend that she shall stay here. She has been asked to
marry a man o' fortune in the old country.'

"'So I surmised, an' I suppose you find that the price o' husbands
has gone up,' I says.

"Sam didn't answer me.

"'They want you to settle some money on the girl--don't they?' I
asked.

"'My wife says it's the custom in the old country,' says Sam.

"'Suppose he ain't worth the price?'

"'They say he's a splendid fellow,' says Sam.

"'You let me investigate him,' I says, 'an' if he's really worth
the price I'll help ye to pay it.'

"Sam said that was fair, an' thanked me for the offer, an' gave me
the young man's address. He was a Russian by the name of Alexander
Rolanoff, an' Sam insisted that he belonged to a very old family of
large means an' noble blood, an' said that the young man would be
in Pointview that summer. I wrote to the mayor of the city in
which he was said to live, but got no answer.

"Alexander came. He was a costly an' beautiful young man, about