"Me," she said.

Nathaniel turned toward her in astonishment. "Married!" he repeated.

"If you lived with me, you could finish the machine; there's an attic
over my house; I guess it's big enough. Only, we'd _have_ to be
married, I'm afraid. Jonesville is a mean place, Nathaniel. We'd have
to be married. But you could finish the machine."

He stood up, trembling, the tears suddenly running down his face.
_"Finish it?"_ he said, in a whisper. "Oh, you are not deceiving
me? You would not deceive me?"

"I don't see why you couldn't finish it," she told him, kindly. "But,
Nathaniel, mind, I am poor. You wouldn't get as good victuals even as
you would at the Farm. And you'd have to marry me, or folks would talk
about me. But you could finish your machine."

Nathaniel lifted his dim eyes to heaven.


III


"Well," said Mrs. Butterfield, "I suppose you know your own business.
But my goodness sakes alive!"

"I just thought I'd tell you," Lizzie said.