"'Don't take it like that, Jud,' says Jess, grabbin' holt o' him an' not payin' any 'tention to my bein' there. 'Cry, cuss, swear--anything, but don't be so solemn-like. It's my fault, Juddie dear--all my fault. Can yeh ever, ever fergive me? Yeh said yeh didn't think it was safe, an' I kep' a-goadin' yeh to it; an' now----' She broke out a-blubberin' an' a-bellerin' again, an' he puts his arm aroun' her an' smiles, an' says soft-like: "'It don't matter much. I can raise the money an' buy a new one fer Mis' Sneath. How much do they cost?' says he. "'Oh, I dunno! Five hundred dollars, I think. It's an awful lot o' money!' "'Wal, I got three-fifty saved up,--you know what fer,--an' I can raise the rest an' put a new pianner in the place o' that one,' says he. "He looks at the wreck, an' fer the first time I sees his eyes is jest a little damp. "They didn't either of 'em seem to take any notice o' me, an' I didn't feel that I counted, nohow. "'An' we cain't git married,' says Jud, sorrowful-like, 'fer ever so long. There'll be nothin' to house-keep on till I can save up some more.' "'Yes, we can, too,' says she. 'I don't keer if yeh ain't got so much as a piece o' bale-rope.' "'But yer paw?' "'I don't keer,' says she, very hard-like, a-stampin' her foot. 'He can like it or lump it.' "Wal, I sneaks away an' leaves 'em there, an' by an' by they comes up to where I sets on top o' the boat, an' Jud isn't so plumb gloomy as I thinks he'd be. "Him an' her goes down ter Fresno nex' day an' buys one o' that same identical make o' pianners an' has it shipped up on the first freight-wagon to Skyland. An' they puts it inter the warehouse, an' there she stands till Mr. Sneath comes home with his wife. "When Mis' Sneath she sees the pianner brung inter her house she don't notice any difference fer a while; but one day she sets down ter play, an' she pounds out a few music, an' then she gives a jump an' looks all over the machine an' she says, 'Good Lord!' An' Sneath he comes in, an' they has a great time over how the' 's be'n sech a change in that pianner. She finally makes up her mind it's a bran'-new one, an' sends fer Jud an' asts him what he knows about it. An' he cain't lie a little bit, so he up an' tells her that her pianner is all inter sawdust an' scrap-iron down on the rocks, an' that this is a new one that he owes a hundred an' fifty dollars on down ter Fresno. "Then she busts out a-laughin', an' says: "'Why, that old tin-pan! I'm glad it flew the flume. It wasn't wuth twenty dollars. I got a noo grand pianner on the way here that I ordered in Noo York. I'll make this here one a weddin' present to you an' Jess.' "And the soop'rintendent he writes out his check an' sends it down to Fresno to pay off the hundred an' fifty, an' when the weddin' it comes off he gives 'em a set o' chiny dishes besides.