Now Isabel--a great disgust rose in him for the sniveling, selfish

little thing and her impotence in the face of his trouble. "She's just

the kind to play with," he thought, "just a doll, and like the doll,

has as much heart as a thing stuffed with sawdust can have. I guess it

took this jolt to wake me up and know that Isabel Souders is not the

type of girl for me."

When he reached the Reist home he found Amanda and her Uncle Amos on

the porch.

"Oh, it's all right!" the girl cried as he came into the yard. "I can

read it in your face." Gladness rang in her voice like a bell.

"It's all right," Martin told her.

"Good! I'm glad," said Uncle Amos while Amanda smiled her happiness.

"Was I right?" she asked. "Was it the work of Mertzheimers?"

"It was. They must hate me like poison."

"Ach, he's a copperhead," said Uncle Amos. "He's so pesky low and mean

he can't bear to see any one else be honest. You're gettin' up too far

to suit him. It's always so that when abody climbs up the ladder a

little there's some settin' at the foot ready to joggle it, and the

higher abody climbs the more are there to help try to shake you down. I

guess there's mean people everywheres, even in this here beautiful

Garden Spot. But to my notion you got to just go on doin' right and not

mind 'em. They'll get what they earn some day. Nobody has yet sowed

weeds and got a crop of potatoes from it."

"But," said the girl, "I can't understand it. The Mertzheimer people

come from good families and they have certainly been taught to be

different. I can't see where they get their mean streak. With all their

money and chance to improve and opportunities for education and

culture---"

"Ach, money"--said Uncle Amos--"what good does money do them if they

don't have the right mind to use it? My granny used to say still you

can tie a silk ribbon round a pig's neck but she'll wallow in the dirt

just the same first chance she'll get. I guess some people are like

that. Well, Martin, I'm goin' in to tell Millie--the women--it's all

right with you. They was so upset about it. And won't Millie talk!" He

chuckled at the thought of what that staunch woman would say about Mr.

Mertzheimer. "Millie can hit the nail on the head pretty good, pretty

good," he said as he ambled into the house.




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