"He'll need to be re-trained. It isn't well, even for a dog, to be under such petticoat government as that; it spoils him. Only I'm afraid I sha'n't be at home long enough to make him hear to reason." "Aileen has him in good training. She knows the dog adores her and makes the most of it. Oh, I forgot to tell you I sent word to Father Honore this morning to come over to tea to-night. I knew you would like to see him, and he has been anticipating your return." "Has he? What for I wonder. By the way, where did he take his meals after he left you?" "Over in the boarding-house with the men. He stayed with me only three months, until his house was built. He has an old French Canadian for housekeeper now." "He's greatly beloved, I hear." "The Gore wouldn't be The Gore without him," Mrs. Googe spoke earnestly. "The Colonel"--she laughed as she always did when about to quote her rhetorical neighbor--"speaks of him to everyone as 'the heart of the quarry that responds to the throb of the universal human,' and so far as I know no one has ever taken exception to it, for it's true." "I remember--he was an all round fine man. I shall be glad to see him again. He must find some pretty tough customers up here to deal with, and the Colonel's office is no longer the soft snap it was for fifteen years, I'll bet." "No, that's true; but, on the whole, there is less trouble than you would expect among so many nationalities. Isn't it queer?--Father Honore says that most of the serious trouble comes from disputes between the Hungarians and Poles about religious questions. They are apt to settle it with fists or something worse. But he and the Colonel have managed well between them; they have settled matters with very few arrests." "I can't imagine the Colonel in that role." Champney laughed. "What does he do with all his rhetorical trumpery at such times? I've never seen him under fire--in fact, he never had been when I left." "I know he doesn't like it. He told me he shouldn't fill the office after another year. You know he was obliged to do it to make both ends meet; but since the opening of the quarries he has really prospered and has a market right here in town for all the mutton he can raise. I'm so glad Romanzo's got a chance." They rambled on, crossing the apex of The Gore and getting a good view of the great extent of the opened quarries. Their talk drifted from one thing to another, Champney questioning about this one and that, until, as they turned homewards, he declared he had picked up the many dropped stitches so fast, that he should feel no longer a stranger in his native place when he should make his first appearance in the town the next day. He wanted to renew acquaintance with all the people at Champ-au-Haut and the old habitues of The Greenbush. III