me with respect and humility if she learns from the first to recognize in me a
superior on whom she will be dependent for her daily bread. No shiftless
hussy would impose upon ME. I would bring home--how sweet the word sounds!--a
model of industry and patient endurance. She would be deferential, she would
know her place, too. Everything would go like clockwork in our home. I'll
put on my things at once and--"

"Excuse me, Mrs. Mumpson. It would not be right to leave Jane here alone.
Moreover, I'd rather engage my own help."

"But my dear Mr. Holcroft, you don't realize--men never do realize--that you
will have a long, lonely ride with a female of unknown--unknown antercedents.
It will be scarcely respecterble, and respecterbility should be man and
woman's chief aim. Jane is not a timid child, and in an emergency like this,
even if she was, she would gladly sacrifice herself to sustain the proprieties
of life. Now that your life has begun under new and better auspices, I feel
that I ought to plead with you not to cloud your brightening prospects by a
thoughtless unregard of what society looks upon as proper. The eyes of the
community will now be upon us--"

"You must excuse me, Mrs. Mumpson. All I ask of the community is to keep
their eyes on their own business, while I attend to mine in my own way. The
probabilities are that the girl will come out on the stage Monday," and he
rose from the dinner table and hastily made his preparations for departure.
He was soon driving rapidly away, having a sort of nervous apprehension lest
Jane, or the widow, should suddenly appear on the seat beside him. A basket
of eggs and some inferior butter, with the burnt-out stove, were in his wagon
and his bank book was in his pocket. It was with sinking heart that he
thought of making further inroads on his small accumulations.