"Yea. But my wife's father should understand the state of my finances."
"Set not thy mind too much upon riches, Samuel Biddle."
"Is thy daughter not worth any mere worldly riches I could accumulate?"
"Favor is deceitful, and a woman should never put ill thoughts into a man."
"Did thee not hope for money as I do when thee was young and knew the woman who would be thy wife?"
"Samuel Biddle, I will do this for thee, as thee asks. Thee has grown upon me much of late, and even as I once hoped, so it is meet that thee should hope."
So I gave my savings and earnings into his keeping; and when I had gone away to the lumber-regions I sent the money just the same.
"I thank thee for trusting father so much," said Barbara when we met after this, and quite smiled in my face.
"Thy father trusts me beyond my trust in him in letting thee into my keeping," I said.
"My!" said she. And we stood together for some little time, looking at nothing in particular. And yet it was borne in upon me that friend Barbara rarely thought of me when I was not present with her. I doubt much that this should have given annoyance, for why should we pry into another's thoughts? And yet it rankled in my bosom, and I could but feel that I knew the truth. I should have liked her to think much of me, in sooth: I should have liked her to think of me while she knitted the stockings in the bright leafy porch or walked among her garden-herbs, or when she was busy over her household cares. It was the vain-glorious feeling of youth which prompted this doubt in me, but in youth vain-glory is what wisdom is in age.