"I wish Blanche had a husband of your disposition and attainments."
"Blanche, I thought, was a sweet girl," he said reflectively.
"And a good girl," said Mrs. Merley. "I would have given anything to have had her marry a promising young farmer of your order, and be now living in the West."
"I love the West, and had hoped others would be loving it too," he said ruefully.
"He came back here after his first visit, and sitting right where you are now, said that you was one of the race's most progressive young men. He added to this everywhere he had half a chance and eulogized you to the highest. It happened that the minister who married you, was here, and he, too, very much admired you, and voiced the same to the Reverend. That old devil just swelled up like a big frog with vanity. Three months later he comes back here, and, to seek to justify his action, he spreads the town with lies that nobody believes."
The other shifted his position.
"Well, Jean," she said now more soberly, "just what shall I do?"
"If you would not mind—"
"Oh, don't say that!"
"Very well, Mrs. Merley. I would like you to call her up and suggest a matinée."