"So do I," said Walter. "He would have a lot to tell us."
"California seems so far away," resumed Mrs. Nelson, "and he has no one there to look after him, and mend his clothes--"
"And darn his stockings," said Walter, smiling.
"If he walked all the way across the continent," said Sarah, "I don't believe he would have larger holes in his stockings than you have, Walter."
"Oh, well, I exercise a good deal," said Walter. "Ask father if I don't."
"Walter will be more successful as a farmer than as a scholar," said Mr. Nelson. "He helps me a good deal."
"Tom was a good scholar," said Sarah, "and he was always ready to work too. Walter will never astonish or electrify the world by his learning."
"I don't want to," said her brother. "It isn't in my line."
"Don't tease Walter," said Mrs. Nelson. "He helps your father a good deal, and he is not a dunce."
"Thank you, mother, for taking my part. Sarah is going to be a strong-minded woman. I should not wonder if she came out as a lecturer on 'Woman's Rights' some time. I think I see her, with a pair of iron-bowed spectacles on her nose, and her back hair tied up in a big knot, flinging her arms about, and--"
"That'll do, Walter," said Sarah. "It is an unusually powerful effort for you. I have no desire to lecture on 'Woman's Rights,' though I think they ought to have them all the same."
"I guess you'll get yours. You'll make your husband stand round, if you ever get one."
Sarah laughed good-naturedly, and retorted, "I shall pity your wife, if she has to darn your stockings."
The next day about dinner-time Squire Hudson walked up to the front door, and knocked. His approach was witnessed, not without trepidation, for he was not an easy creditor.
The squire looked about him searchingly as he entered. He suspected that the interest was not ready, and the farmer's grave face confirmed his suspicions. That he was glad of this of course Mark Nelson did not dream, for he was not aware of his creditor's deep-laid plans.
"A fine day!" said the squire, with suavity. "I hope you are well, Mrs. Nelson."
"Then of course he could not say anything of his prospects?"
"You must miss him a good deal--all of you."
"I am thinking of him all the time," said Mrs. Nelson.