sat on her skirts as he did on mine, flashed across my troubled brain.

"I'd be mighty particular as to who handles me," he answered impudently,
"Want to try?" And with the greatest audacity he laid his head gently
against my knee. I let it rest there a second and then tipped it back
against the arm of the rocker.

"It does hurt me to see a man like Cousin James fairly throttled by
women as he is being," I said as I looked across the street and noted
that the porch of Widegables was full to overflowing with the household
of women.

"Evelina," said Polk, as he stood up suddenly in front of me, "that old
Mossback is the finest man in this commonwealth, but from his situation
nobody can extract him, unless it is a woman with the wiliness of the
devil himself. Poison the whole bunch and I'll back you. But we'll have
to plot it later on. I see his reverence coming tripping along with a
tract in his hand for you and I'll be considerate enough to sneak
through the kitchen, get a hot muffin-cake that has been tantalizing my
nose all this time you have been sentimentalizing over me, and return
anon when I can have you all to myself in the melting moonlight in the
small hours after all religious folk are in bed. Until then!" And as he
went back through the front hall Mr. Haley came down the front walk.

"My dear Miss Shelby, how fortunate I am to find you alone," he
exclaimed with such genuine delight beaming from his nice, good,
friendly, gray eyes that I beamed up myself a bit out of pure
responsiveness.

"I am so glad to see you, Mr. Haley. Hasn't it been a lovely day?" I