She closed the wooden door of the clock, and, turning, took a generous bite from the side of a mellow August sweeting that lay on the table. At this rather inauspicious moment her eye caught Pitt's. The sight of her old lover drove all prudence and reserve from her mind, and she came to the door with such an intoxicating smile and such welcoming hands that he would have kissed her then and there, even if he had not come to Pleasant River for that especial purpose. Of course he forgot the speech, but his gestures were convincing, and he mumbled a sufficient number of extracts from it to convince Huldah that he was in a proper frame of mind--this phrase meaning to a woman the one in which she can do anything she likes with a man. They were too old, doubtless, to cry and laugh in each other's arms, and ask forgiveness for past follies, and regret the wasted years, and be thankful for present hope and life and love; but that is what they did, old as they were. "I wouldn't have any business to ask you to marry such a dictatorial fool as I used to be, Huldah," said Pitt; "but I've got over considerable of my foolishness, and do say you will. Say, too, you won't make me wait any longer, but marry me Sunday or Monday. This is Thursday, and I must be back in Goshen next week at this time. Will you, Huldah?" Huldah blushed, but shook her head. She looked lovely when she blushed, and she hadn't lost the trick of it even at thirty-six. "I know it's soon; but never mind getting ready. If you won't say Monday, make it Tuesday--do." She shook her head again. "Wednesday, then. _Do_ say Wednesday, Huldy dear." The same smile of gentle negation. He dropped her hand disconsolately. "Then I'll have to come back at Christmas-time, I s'pose. It's just my busy season now, or I would stay right here on this doorstep till you was ready, for it seems to me as if I'd been waiting for you ever since I was born, and couldn't get you too soon." "Do you really want me to marry you so much, Pitt?" "Never wanted anything so bad in my life." "Didn't you wonder I wasn't more surprised to see you to-day?" "Nothing surprises me in women-folks." "Well, it was because I've dreamed of a funeral three nights running. Do you know what that's a sign of?" Pitt never winked an eyelash; he had learned his lesson. With a sigh of relief that his respected stepmother was out of hearing, he responded easily, "I s'pose it's a sign somebody's dead or going to die." "No, it isn't: dreams go by contraries. It's a sign there's going to be a wedding." "I'm glad to know that much, but I wish while you was about it you'd have dreamt a little more, and found out when the wedding was going to be." "I did; and if you weren't the stupidest man alive you could guess." "I know I'm slow-witted," said Pitt meekly, for he was in a mood to endure anything, "but I've asked you to have me on every day there is except the one I'm afraid to name." "You know I've had plenty of offers."