His hand dropped to the blanket and he stared upward as though a fresh idea had occurred to him.

"Say, I wonder if the Reverend was a regular preacher?" he asked.

"Why? He was a doer of good works. Why consider his actual standing?"

"Yeah. But I mean, could he marry folks, do you s'pose?"

He looked at her again and in his eyes was that amused twinkle, the laugh of a man assured, content, self sufficient ... and behind it was the tenderness that comes to a strong man's eyes only when he looks upon the woman who has given him love for love.

"If he could he'd be glad to," he said, "and I suspect that he'd throw a little variety into the ceremony ... something, likely, about your fightin' a good fight!"

THE END