"What did she say?" he asked.
She stopped to think.
"P'raps it was me that said most," she answered, "though I didn't think so then. She asked a question or so an' seemed to like to listen. I was tellin' her what a son you'd been to me, an' how happy I was an' how thankful I was."
"She's not one that says much," he said, without looking up from the glass on which his eyes had been fixed. "That's her way."
She replied with a question, put timidly.
"You've knowed her a good bit, I dare say, my dear?"
"No," uneasily. "A six-month or so, that's all."
"But it's been long enough for her to find out that what I said to her was true. I didn't tell her what was new to her, my dear. I see that by her smile, an' the kind way she listened. She's got a beautiful smile, Jem, an' a beautiful sweet face."
When they parted for the night, he drew from his pocket a bank-note and handed it to her.