embarrassed formality. He knew, when the moment was past that his
parents had perceived that Susannah needed more decorous training. He
concurred in believing this to be desirable, for the manners that had
surrounded him were very stiff. Yet the memory of the greeting remained
with him, a thing to be wondered at while he turned the whispering
leaves of his great books.

Susannah had travelled from the Canadian fort in the care of the
preacher Finney. He was a revivalist of great renown, possessing a
lawyer-like keenness of intellect, much rhetorical power, and Pauline
singleness of purpose. That night he ate and slept in the house.

The original Calvinism of the Croom household had already been modified
by the waves of Methodist revival from the Eastern States. Finney was an
Independent, but Martha Croom had an abounding respect for him; his
occasional visits were epochs in her life. She had prepared many baked
meats for his entertainment before the evening of his arrival with
Susannah, but while he was present she devoted herself wholly to his
conversation.

The feast was spread in the inner kitchen. In the square brick fireplace
burning pine sticks crackled, bidding the chill of the April evening
retire to its own place beyond the dark window pane. The paint upon the
walls and floor glistened but faintly to the fire and the small flames
of two candles that stood among the viands upon the table.

The elder Croom sat in his place. He was burly and ruddy, a wholesome
man, very silent, very strong, a person to be feared and relied on.
Ephraim believed that force went forth from his father's presence like
perfume from a flower. There were many kinds of flowers whose perfume