"I'm almost afraid you're right."
"Why? Don't you want to git married?"
"Well"—Nat smiled—"no. Don't believe I do. Not just now, at any rate."
"Well, you don't have to if you don't want to.... G'd-night."
"Yes, I do," Nat told Tracey's back. "The rules say so. If the girl asks me, I must."
He grimaced ruefully beneath his wisp of a moustache. "Anyhow, I've got a few months left...."
[ XVIII ]
A BARGAIN IS A BARGAIN
So the winter wore away.... And as spring drew nigh upon our valley, Duncan seemed to grow perturbed, even as he had been in the autumn before Betty went away. He was pondering another scheme for the betterment of the condition of those he cared for, and gave it ample consideration before he broached it to old Sam, after swearing him to secrecy.
He had to propose nothing more or less than an abandonment of the old Graham housekeeping quarters above the store and a removal of the ménage bodily to a vacant house on Beech Street, near the store, which could be rented, partly furnished, at a moderate rate.