“You jest bet she is,” said the man defiantly, “and I want her to home. She’s making me the laughing stock of the hull place.” “Oh,” said Mr. Rowantree, quite politely. “What are they laughing at? Excuse me if I don’t quite understand.” “They’re laughing because a married woman leaves her home and sets in school with childer, l’arning like she was five years old.” “They probably are not aware that men and women of the most learned sort go to universities until they are much older than Mrs. McIntosh. Naturally, they wouldn’t know that, would they? It’s not the kind of thing that folk here on the mountain would be liable to hear about.” “We know ’nough,” said the man sullenly. “We ken git along without nobody’s help.” “Now, really,” said Mr. Rowantree in a pleasant tone, “you _don’t_ get on very well, you know. You couldn’t get on with men beyond the mountains—wouldn’t measure up with them in any way, except perhaps, in the use of a gun. And that’s because you don’t know the things your excellent wife is trying to learn. She already knows her letters, writes her name, and is beginning to read books. Of course that puts her quite a way ahead of you, Mr. McIntosh.” Mr. Rowantree still stroked his mustache with a white hand and smiled. “I don’t allow no woman belonging to me to know more than I know,” said Mr. McIntosh in what was meant to be a very manly manner. “What knowing thar is around our house is for me.” “Too late, too late,” cried Mr. Rowantree, waving his hand magnificently in the air. “You see, she knows more than you this very minute. She’s got the key to the puzzle. You can’t stop her now. She’s got something you haven’t—something that puts her in line with the world beyond these mountains—something that will comfort and amuse her as long as she lives. That’s the wonder about learning; once you get it in your head, nobody can take it away from you.” Mr. Rowantree regarded the mountaineer with an unflinching eye. “I reckon I ken take it out o’ her,” said the man, his eyes flashing. “No, you can’t,” retorted Mr. Rowantree. “You may think you can, but you can’t. She’s got hold of a secret that makes her more powerful than you, though of course your muscles are much stronger than hers. Mark this, Mr. McIntosh: No matter how things go with her, she’ll always have a kind of happiness that no one can take away.” There was a little pause and then Mr. Rowantree went on.