“I know it is; and I only wonder that it has been left so long untenanted, while the meanest hovels have been all taken up.”
“Why, you see, my dear, this house is too remote from the village for any one but a farmer, and as it stands upon the reserved school lands, of course, no farmer can cultivate the ground.”
“Will it not be too far for you?”
“With me it is different. I like to walk, and do not grudge my steps. The three miles’ walk, morning and evening, will do me good. Nay, more; that exercise will be a necessary relief from the sedentary life of the office. My only anxiety will be in leaving you here alone, all day. Will you be very lonesome, dear?”
“Lonesome? I don’t know. I should be lonesome anywhere without you, Mark. But that is a very foolish weakness, and must be overcome, of course.”
“But you will be afraid to stay here all day long alone?”
“Afraid? Of what? Why should I be? Is there any cause of fear?”
“No, dear; no cause for fear; but, as Emilia said of jealousy, one might say of fear:
‘That fearful souls will not be answered so;
They are not ever fearful for a cause,