‘What in Heaven’s name do you want to say?’ cried Richard, goaded to desperation. ‘Do you want me to tell you to your face that I love the woman you are going to marry?’ ‘Nay now,’ returned his uncle in an expostulatory tone, ‘I would n’t go so far as that. I bain’t onreasonable. All I did ever think o’ axin’ ye was for you and Mrs. F. to see if ye could n’t take to each other. That were my notion. Ye might ha’ gived each other a fair trial—a fair trial!’ The young couple stared at him blankly, hardly believing their ears; then Richard cried out with a gasp: ‘Rosalie, do you hear—do you understand? He _wanted_ us to love each other!’ ‘Nay,’ interrupted the farmer, in a tone that was at once dignified and explanatory, ‘I did n’t expect so much straight off—Love! No, no, not love—but ye mid ha’ jist tried to fancy one another! Ye mid ha’ had a bit o’ consideration for me, I think. Ye knowed, both on ye, as materimony would n’t come easy to I; and seein’ as you did tell me plain, Richard, the very first night you come home, as you was on the look-out for a wife, why not Mrs. F. so well as another?’ It was Rosalie’s turn to gasp now, and her face bloomed like a rose in the evening light; but neither she nor Richard spoke; both were so suddenly brought down from their heights of heroics that it was natural they should feel somewhat dizzy and confused. ‘I’m a man o’ my word,’ said Isaac, ‘and if ye have made up your mind and fixed your ch’ice on I, Mrs. F., why’—drawing a deep breath—‘I’ll keep my promise, my dear. But if Richard ’ud do so well as me ’t ’ud be a deal more convenient, d’ ye see? It ’ud seem a bit queer to change my state at my time o’ life, and to leave the old home where I was born and bred. And Richard, he has a very good notion o’ farmin’, and he ’d be willing to carry on the work in the old way, and to take advice from I, d’ ye see? Ah, the notion did come to I soon arter he comed here. Thinks I to myself, I wonder if Richard ’ud do—’t ’ud be a deal more suitable, thinks I; and more satisfactory to all parties.’ Here Isaac was interrupted by a sudden burst of laughter from his nephew—laughter which was indeed the outlet of such an extraordinary mixture of emotions that they had nearly found vent in tears. The exquisite sense of relief, the unhoped-for joy stirred his very heart’s depths; but, on the other hand, the humour of the situation struck him with almost equal force. After the overwhelming remorse, the bitter sense of shame which but a few moments ago had tortured them, to discover that their contemplated sacrifice had very nearly set at naught good old Isaac’s dearest wish! ‘Oh, uncle, uncle!’ he cried as soon as the first ecstatic outburst of mirth had subsided, ‘why did you not speak before?’