"He is a man that will always earn his bread," said Mr. Beckard; and
Mrs. Bell blessed him in her heart for saying it.

"But has he been encouraged?" asked Hetta.

"Well; yes, he has," said the widow.

"Then Susan I suppose likes him?" asked Phineas.

"Well; yes, she does," said the widow. And the conference ended in
a resolution that Phineas Beckard should have a conversation with
Aaron Dunn, as to his worldly means and position; and that he,
Phineas, should decide whether Aaron might, or might not be at once
accepted as a lover, according to the tenor of that conversation.
Poor Susan was not told anything of all this. "Better not," said
Hetta the demure. "It will only flurry her the more." How would
she have liked it, if without consulting her, they had left it to
Aaron to decide whether or no she might marry Phineas?

They knew where on the works Aaron was to be found, and thither Mr.
Beckard rode after dinner. We need not narrate at length the
conference between the young men. Aaron at once declared that he
had nothing but what he made as an engineer, and explained that he
held no permanent situation on the line. He was well paid at that
present moment, but at the end of summer he would have to look for
employment.

"Then you can hardly marry quite at present," said the discreet
minister.