His face worked in spite of him, and he gave an inarticulate snort.

"Well," the woman said, "I think that speaks well for Tim.
Why should you be worried about him?"

"I am afraid he is getting to love money and worldly success too well,
and that is what I fear for the girl, too. You see, she is so pretty,
and the idols of the tribe and the market, as Bacon calls them,
are strong with the young."

"Yes, that's so," the woman assented vaguely, not at all sure
what either Bacon or his idols might be. "Are the children
relations of yours?"

"No, ma'am; it was like this: When I was up in Henry County
there came a photographic artist to the village near us,
and pitched his tent and took tintypes in his wagon.
He had his wife and his two children with him. The poor woman fell
ill and died; so we took the two children. My wife was willing;
she was a wonderfully good woman, member of the Methodist church
till she died. I--I am not a church member myself, ma'am; I passed
through that stage of spiritual development a long while ago."
He gave a wistful glance at his companion's dimly outlined profile.
"But I never tried to disturb her faith; it made HER happy."

"Oh, I don't think it is any good fooling with other people's religions,"
said the woman, easily. "It is just like trying to talk folks out
of drinking; nobody knows what is right for anybody else's soul any
more than they do what is good for anybody else's stomach!"