"Exactly. But how, in the name of everything wonderful have you found it out?"
Uncle Reuben's eyes twinkled shrewdly.
"I ain't a lawyer, Mr. Gilbert, but I can see as far into a milestone as any other man. Do you think I s'posed it was to see me and Joe and Hetty you came to Kent Hill so often? No, sir! I see you had a hankering after our little girl from the first."
Mr. Gilbert actually blushed. And he had guarded his precious secret so carefully, he had thought.
"Well, Mr. Kent, I trust I have your approval?"
Reuben Kent stretched out his big brown paw, and grasped the lawyer's white hand.
"I give her to you with all my heart, sir. I'd rather see her your wife than the wife of the President. I've been hoping this long time it would come to this. She's a good girl, as good as she's pretty, and I know she'll make you a good wife."
Not one word of the honor done them or her by the wealthy lawyer's offer—not one thought of it. In Reuben Kent's eyes no king or kaiser on the wide earth would have been too good for his beautiful Norine.
"And when is it to be, sir?" he asked.
"The wedding?" smiled Mr. Gilbert. "The first week of June. If I possibly can, I will run down here once or twice between this and then, but I am doubtful of its being possible. I have neglected business somewhat of late, and it has accumulated. You will tell your brother and sister, Kent?"