"Then, if you won't _take_, and you'd rather not borrow, we must find another way. A rather good idea occurred to me last night. I've an uncommonly nice old place up in New Hampshire--in the mountains. It was my father's--and my grandfather's. It's been closed for many years, and I haven't given it a thought, except when the tax-bills came due, or the caretaker sent in his account. It's so far away my sister won't live there, and--it's too big and formidable for one lone man to summer in by himself. Now, why wouldn't it be a capital idea for you to pack up your goods and chattels here, and take your family right up there--make that your home? The lodge is comfortable and roomy, and I don't see why Mr. Slawson couldn't recover there as well, if not better, than where he is. I'd like to put the place in order--make some improvements, do a little remodeling. I need a trusty man to oversee the laborers, and keep an eye and close tab on the workmen I send up from town. If Mr. Slawson would act as superintendent for me, I'd pay him what such a position is worth, and you would have your house, fuel, and vegetables free. Don't try to answer now. You'd be foolish to make a decision in a hurry that you might regret later. Write to your husband. Talk it over with him. He might prefer to choose a job for himself. And remember--it's 'way out in the country. The children would have to walk some distance to school." "Give 'em exercise, along of their exercises," said Martha. "The church in the village is certainly three miles off." "My husband don't go to church as reg'lar as I might wish," Mrs. Slawson observed. "I tell'm, the reason men don't be going to church so much these days, is for fear they might hear something they believe." "You would find country life tame, perhaps, after the city." "Well, the city life ain't been that _wild_ for me that I'd miss the dizzy whirl. An' anyhow--we'd be _together_!" Martha said. "We'd be together, maybe, come our weddin'-day. The fourth o' July. We never been parted oncet, on that day, all the fifteen years we been married," she mused, "but--" "Well?" "But, come winter, an' Mis' Sherman opens the house again, an' wants Miss Claire back, who's goin' to look out for _her_?" "Why--a--as to _that_--" said Mr. Ronald, so vaguely it sounded almost supercilious to Claire. In an instant her pride rose in revolt, rebelling against the notion he might have, that she could possibly put forth any claim upon his consideration.