The store had doubled in size under her management and with the help of the capital of Samson and Sarah Traylor.  Its wholesale and retail business was larger than any north of St. Louis.  The epidemic had seized her toward the last of her nursing and left the marks of its scourge upon her.  It had marred her beauty but Samson writes, “the girl was still very handsome.  She was well filled out and stood as straight as an arrow and was always dressed as neat as a pin.  I fear she was a little extravagant about that.  She carried her head like a sleek, well-fed Morgan colt.  She was kind of scared to meet Harry for fear of what he’d think of those little marks on her face but I told her not to worry.”

“You are the smartest and loveliest looking creature that I ever saw in my life,” said Harry after he had held her in his arms a moment.

“But see what has happened to me—­look at my face,” she answered.

“It is more beautiful than ever,” he said.  “Those marks have doubled my love for you.  They are medals of honor better than this one that I wear.”

“Then I think that I’ll take you off and marry you before you have a chance to fight another duel or find another war to go to,” said Bim.  “There is the mustache that I used to long for and which wouldn’t come,” she added with a smile.

“Is there anything else that I seem to need?” Harry asked.  “I could grow whiskers now.”

“Don’t,” she answered.  “The great need of the West is shears and razors and a law to compel their use.  There can be little romance in the midst of so much hair.”

“I shall be careful not to offend you,” Harry laughed.  “I want to marry you as soon as possible.  I’ve been looking forward to that since I was sixteen.”

“I don’t hear of anything but love and marriage,” said Samson.  “We’ve been rassling down at our house to keep Josiah from running off and getting married.  He’s engaged already.”

“Engaged!  To whom?” Harry asked.

“To Annabel Brimstead.  She’s a little older than he is.  She laughed at him and promised to marry him as soon as he was nominated for President by all his friends.  She would now vote for him herself.  He has become a good athlete and the best scholar in school.  He has every boy and girl in the village working for him evenings and Saturdays.”

“What are they doing?” Harry asked.

“Making those newfangled things they call lucifers.  You can build a fire in a second with ’em.  They cut splinters out of soft wood, dip their ends in brimstone—­which Joe learned how to make—­and put them in a hot oven until the brimstone is baked.  Then a scratch will bring a flame.  Joe puts them up in bundles and sells them to the merchants and calls them lucifer matches.  He has invented a machine that will cut and dip a thousand splinters an hour.  I tell you Annabel is in danger.”

He took a lucifer out of his pocket and scratched it on the bottom of his boot.  The party looked with wonder at its flame which quickly consumed the slender thread of pine in his fingers.