"'Is it a case o' foreclosure, Brooke?' says I to him one day in the road.
"'No, sor,' he snaps out; 'I had a little mortgage on her furniture, but I'm going t' marry her for a helpmeet. She is a great worker an' neat an' savin'.'
"'An' headstrong,' says I. 'Ye must have patience with her.'
"'I can manage her,' said Brooke. 'The first morning after we are married I always say to my wife, "Here's the breeches; now if ye want 'em, take 'em, an' I'll put on the dress."'
"He looked wise, then, as if 'twere a great argument.
"'Always?' says I. 'God bless thee, 'tis an odd habit.'
"Well, the boast o' Brooke went from one to another an' at last to the widow's ear. They say a look o' firmness an' resolution came into her face, an' late in August they were married of an evening at the home o' Brooke. Well, about then, I had been having trouble."
"Trouble?" said Trove.
"It was another's trouble—that of a client o' mine, a poor woman out in the country. Brooke had a mortgage on her cattle, an' she could not pay, an' I undertook to help her. I had some money due me, but was unable to put me hand on it. That day before the wedding I went to the old sinner.
"'Brooke, I came to see about the Martha Vaughn mortgage,' says I."