for about six weeks, and all Edgham was well informed concerning it,
Maria, instead of going straight home from school, took a cross-road
through some woods. She dreaded to reach home that night. It was
Wednesday, and her father would be sure to go to see Miss Slome.
Maria felt an indefinable depression, as if she, little, helpless
girl, were being carried so far into the wheels of life that it was
too much for her. Her father, of late, had been kinder than ever to
her; Maria had begun to wonder if she ought not to be glad if he were
happy, and if she ought not to try to love Miss Slome. But this
afternoon depression overcame her. She walked slowly between the
fields, which were white and gold with queen's-lace and golden-rod.
Her slender shoulders were bent a little. She walked almost like an
old woman. She heard a quick step behind her, and Wollaston Lee came
up beside her. She looked at him with some sentiment, even in the
midst of her depression. The thought flashed across her mind, what is
she should marry Wollaston at the same time her father married Miss
Slome? That would be a happy and romantic solution of the affair. She
colored sweetly, and smiled, but the boy scowled at her.

"Say?" he said.

Maria trembled a little. She was surprised.

"What?" she asked.

"Your father is the meanest man in this town, he is the meanest in
New Jersey, he is the meanest man in the whole United States, he is
the meanest man in the whole world."

Again the boy scowled at Maria, who did not understand; but she would