Ned Hinkley purposely perverted his geography and history. There was a spice of mischief in his composition, and he grinned good-naturedly as he watched the increasing gravity upon the old man's face. “Come, come, gran'pa, don't be angry. You know my fun is a sort of fizz--there's nothing but a flash--nothing to hurt--no shotting. But where's Bill Hinkley, gran'pa?” “Gone to the widow Cooper's, to see Margaret.” “Ah! well, I'm glad he's made a beginning. But I'd much rather he'd have seen the other first.” “What other do you mean?” demanded the old man; but the speaker, though sufficiently random and reckless in what he said, saw the impolicy of allowing the purpose of his cousin in regard to Stevens to be understood. He contrived to throw the inquirer off. “Gran'pa, do you know there's something in this fellow Stevens that don't altogether please me? I'm not satisfied with him.” “Ah, indeed! what do you see to find fault with?” “Well, you see, he comes here pretending to study. Now, in the first place, why should he come here to study? why didn't he stay at home with his friends and parents?” “Perhaps he had neither. Perhaps he had no home. You might as well ask me why I came here, and settled down, where I was not born--where I had neither friends nor parents.” “Oh, no, but you told us why,” said the other. “You gave us a reason for what you did.” “And why may not the stranger give a reason too?” “He don't, though.” “Perhaps he will when you get intimate with him. I see nothing in this to be dissatisfied with. I had not thought you so suspicious, Ned Hinkley--so little charitable.” “Charity begins at home, gran'pa. But there's more in this matter. This man comes here to study to be a parson. How does he study? Can you guess?” “I really can not.” “By dressing spruce as a buck--curling his hair backward over his ears something like a girl's, and going out, morning, noon, and night, to see Margaret Cooper.” “As there is no good reason to suppose that a student of divinity is entirely without the affections of humanity, I still see nothing inconsistent with his profession in this conduct.” “But how can he study?” “Ah! it may be inconsistent with his studies though not with his profession. It is human without being altogether proper. You see that your cousin neglects his studies in the same manner. I presume that the stranger also loves Miss Cooper.” “But he has no such right as Bill Hinkley.” “Why not?” “Why not? Why, Bill is a native here, has been loving her for the last year or more. His right certainly ought to be much greater than that of a man whom nobody knows--who may be the man in the moon for anything we know to the contrary--just dropped in upon us, nobody knows how, to do nobody knows what.”