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ning smile, which could not possi
bly have given offense.
"Why, Abraham, I don't know,
really. I suppose none of the girls
wanted me."
"Then I got just the girl for you,"
said Abraham. "Such a fine girl, Mr.
Jones, in Hobart She's Miss Lisa
Quentin. She loves you, Mr. Jones."
"What the what do you mean,
Abraham?" exclaimed the farmer an
grily. "It's -all right," said the unper
turbed Abraham. "All the mens says
that at first They're skittisher as the
girls. No, she didn't tell me she loved
you, Mr. Jones, but I read it in her
eyes. You can get her-rand then
maybe you'll let me take the order for
furnishing the home yes?"
Left alone, Frank Jones began
thinking over the old days of his woo
ing of Miss Lisa. Lisa' Quentin had
certainly been one of the sweetest
girls in the neighborhood. The middle-aged
man found himself recalling
incidents that he .had forgotten years
before, things quite unsuitable to the
reveries of a substantial, hard-earned
farmer.
In the end he took occasion to
pay a visit to Miss Lisa when he
was buying cattle at the Hobart mar
ket. He dropped in for a pleasant
chat, and, though he made no illusion
whatever to Abraham, he saw that
Miss Lisa was not ienorant of the.
peddler's scheme, as was evinced by
her red cheeks and a sort of timidity
in her manner new to her visitor.
When Jones left they felt like old
friends again. "I shall come often,"
he said, taking her hand.
"You will always be welcome, Mr.
Jones," answered Miss Lisa.
Nevertheless, when he had gone,
she know that Abraham had been
Speaking about her. She resolved
firmly not to marry Frank Jones.
When the peddler appeared the fol
lowing week she was furious.
"How dared you mention my name
to Mr. Jones?" she demanded
"That's all right, lady. AH the 1
womans say that," answered the
peddler. "It's going just the right,
way." j
"Do you dare to suppose that I am
going to let you marry me to Mr.
Jones, just to give you a commission
on the furniture? Why, I hate
him."
"AH the womans says that, too,
lady," answered Abraham, dodging
before Miss Lisa's broom.
It was a week later when Frank
paid his second visit Perhaps he
had seen the peddler in the interval;
certainly he had done a lot of think
ing, and the upshot of it was that he
had came to the conclusion that life
without Miss Lisa would be a sorry
substitute for perpetual bliss. Yet,
when he called, he only sat in silence
a good part of the time", conscious of
a forbidding atmosphere about his
hostess.
"May I make you some tea?" in
quired Miss Lisa.
"Cups and saucers! Fine cups and
saucers!" cried a voice at the door.
. Both started and looked at each
other guiltily. It was the peddler.
'It's that Abraham!" exclaimed
Miss Lisa, looking charming as the
deep red dyed her face. "I won't have
him around here.
But Abraham, his pack on his back,
was already at the door. He looked
imperturbably upon the couple.
"I got some fine samples of rugs
here, lady," he said. "Just the thing
for a young couple starting in."
"What do you mean, Abraham?"
shouted Mr. Jones, springing to his
feet
"What, ain't you got it fixed yet?"
demanded the peddler. "My, but
you're both slow. No wonder you ain't
neither of you got married before."
"The man is crazy," said Miss Lisa.
Abraham extracted something shiny
from his pocket and put in in Mr.
Jones' hand.
"Real diamond," he said. "Only
fifty. Put it on her finger. Do it
now!"
Suddenly Jones, as if hypnotized.
