'Yer sister says ye're a splendid scholar!' said he. 'Hear'n 'er braggin' 'bout ye t'other night; she thinks a good deal o' her brother, I can tell ye. Guess I know what she's gain' t' give ye Crissmus.' 'What's that?' I asked, with a curiosity more youthful than becoming. 'Don't ye never let on,' said he. 'Never,' said I. 'Hear'n 'em tell,' he said,' 'twas a gol' lockup, with 'er pictur' in it.' 'Oh, a locket!' I exclaimed. 'That's it,' he replied, 'an' pure gol', too.' I turned to go. 'Hope she'll grow up a savin' woman,' he remarked. ''Fraid she won't never be very good t' worlt.' 'Why not?' I enquired. 'Han's are too little an' white,' he answered. 'She won't have to,' I said. He cackled uproariously for a moment, then grew serious. 'Her father's rich,' he said, 'the richest man o' Faraway, an I guess she won't never hev anything t' dew but set'n sing an' play the melodium.' 'She can do as she likes,' I said. He stood a moment looking down as if meditating on the delights he had pictured. 'Gol!' he exclaimed suddenly. My subject had begun to study me, and I came away to escape further examination. Chapter 18 I ought to say that I have had and shall have to chronicle herein much that would seem to indicate a mighty conceit of myself. Unfortunately the little word 'I' throws a big shadow in this history. It looms up all too frequently in every page for the sign of a modest man. But, indeed, I cannot help it, for he was the only observer of all there is to tell. Now there is much, for example, in the very marrow of my history--things that never would have happened, things that never would have been said, but for my fame as a scholar. My learning was of small account, for, it must be remembered, I am writing of a time when any degree of scholarship was counted remarkable among the simple folk of Faraway. Hope took singing lessons and sang in church every Sunday. David or Uncle Eb came down for us often of a Saturday and brought us back before service in the morning. One may find in that town today many who will love to tell him of the voice and beauty and sweetness of Hope Brower those days, and of what they expected regarding her and me. We went out a good deal evenings to concerts, lectures at the churches or the college, or to visit some of the many people who invited us to their homes.