This was not quite what Bott expected, but he thought best to say no more on that subject for the moment.

Saul then asked the question that had all along been hovering on his lips.

“Have you spoke to Mattie yet?”

The seer blushed and simpered, “I thought it my duty to speak first to you; but I do not doubt her heart.”

“Oh! you don’t,” said Saul, with a world of meaning.  “You better find out.  You’ll find her in the house.”

Bott went to the house, leaving Saul pondering.  Girls were queer cattle.  Had Mattie given her word to this slab-sided, lanky fellow?  Had she given Sam Sleeny the mitten for him?  Perhaps she wanted the glory of being Mrs. Professor Bott.  Well, she could do as she liked; but Saul swore softly to himself, “If Bott comes to live offen me, he’s got to pay his board.”

Meanwhile, the seer was walking, not without some inward perturbation, to the house, where his fate awaited him.  It would have been hard to find a man more confident and more fatuous; but even such fools as he have their moments of doubt and faltering when they approach the not altogether known.  He had not entertained the slightest question of Maud’s devotion to him, the night she asked from him the counsel of the spirits.  But he had seen her several times since that, and she had never renewed the subject.  He was in two minds about it.  Sometimes he imagined she might have changed her purpose; and then he would comfort himself with the more natural supposition that maiden modesty had been too much for her, and that she was anxiously awaiting his proffer.  He had at last girded up his loins like a man and determined to know his doom.  He had first ascertained the amount of Maud’s salary at the library, and then, as we see, had endeavored to provide for his subsistence at Saul’s expense; and now nothing was wanting but the maiden’s consent.  He trembled a little, but it was more with hope than fear.  He could not make himself believe that there was any danger—­but he wished it were over and all were well.  He paused as he drew near the door.  He was conscious that his hands were disagreeably cold and moist.  He took out his handkerchief and wiped them, rubbing them briskly together, though the day was clear and warm, and the perspiration stood beaded on his forehead.  But there was no escape.  He knocked at the door, which was opened by Maud in person, who greeted him with a free and open kindness that restored his confidence.  They sat down together, and Maud chatted gayly and pleasantly about the weather and the news.  A New York girl, the daughter of a wealthy furrier, was reported in the newspaper as about to marry the third son of an English earl.  Maud discussed the advantages of the match on either side as if she had been the friend from childhood of both parties.

Suddenly, while she was talking about the forthcoming wedding, the thought occurred to Bott, “Mebbe this is a hint for me,” and he plunged into his avowal.  Turning hot and cold at once, and wringing his moist hands as he spoke, he said, taking everything for granted: