“You’ve put it just as it is,” he declared emphatically.  “There’s the situation—­what then?  For I tell you now, Jed Winslow, I won’t give her up until she tells me to.”

“Course not, Charlie, course not.  But there’s one thing more—­or two things, rather.  There’s your sister and Babbie.  Suppose you do haul up stakes and quit workin’ for Sam at the bank; can they get along without your support?  Without the money you earn?”

The young man nodded thoughtfully.  “Yes,” he replied, “I see no reason why they can’t.  They did before I came, you know.  Ruth has a little money of her own, enough to keep her and Barbara in the way they live here in Orham.  She couldn’t support me as a loafer, of course, and you can bet I should never let her try, but she could get on quite well without me. . . .  Besides, I am not so sure that . . .”

“Eh?  What was you goin’ to say, Charlie?”

“Oh, nothing, nothing.  I have had a feeling, a slight suspicion, recently, that—­ But never mind that; I have no right to even hint at such a thing.  What are you trying to get at, Jed?”

“Get at?”

“Yes.  Why did you ask that question about Ruth and Barbara?  You don’t mean that you see a way out for me, do you?”

“W-e-e-ll, I . . . er . . .  I don’t cal’late I’d want to go so far as to say that, hardly.  No-o, I don’t know’s it’s a way out—­ quite.  But, as I’ve told you I’ve been thinkin’ about you and Maud a pretty good deal lately and . . . er . . . hum . . .”

“For heaven’s sake, hurry up!  Don’t go to sleep now, man, of all times.  Tell me, what do you mean?  What can I do?”

Jed’s foot dropped to the floor.  He sat erect and regarded his companion intently over his spectacles.  His face was very grave.

“There’s one thing you can do, Charlie,” he said.

“What is it?  Tell me, quick.”

“Just a minute.  Doin’ it won’t mean necessarily that you’re out of your worries and troubles.  It won’t mean that you mustn’t make a clean breast of everything to Maud and to Sam.  That you must do and I know, from what you’ve said to me, that you feel you must.  And it won’t mean that your doin’ this thing will necessarily make either Maud or Sam say yes to the question you want to ask ’em.  That question they’ll answer themselves, of course.  But, as I see it, if you do this thing you’ll be free and independent, a man doin’ a man’s job and ready to speak to Sam Hunniwell or anybody else like a man.  And that’s somethin’.”

“Something!  By George, it’s everything!  What is this man’s job?  Tell me, quick.”

And Jed told him.

CHAPTER XX

Mr. Gabe Bearse lost another opportunity the next morning.  The late bird misses the early worm and, as Gabriel was still slumbering peacefully at six A. M., he missed seeing Ruth Armstrong and her brother emerge from the door of the Winslow house at that hour and walk to the gate together.  Charles was carrying a small traveling bag.  Ruth’s face was white and her eyes were suspiciously damp, but she was evidently trying hard to appear calm and cheerful.  As they stood talking by the gate, Jed Winslow emerged from the windmill shop and, crossing the lawn, joined them.