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374 "Jonathan, I'll take it kind of thee if ta will go with t' poor young man and thy daughter. Thou is needing a rest &r more than thou thinks for. Thou hes a fever moat of t' time, and thou art as worritty as a woman. Ben and I can take care of iverything, and if ta will forget t' mills for a few weeks, and give thysen up to spending money, and larking like a boy, thou wilt add twenty years to thy life."

And probably Acre was in Jonathan's consciousness a conviction of the necessity for some such relief, for after a slight opposition he gave in to his uncle's proposal, almost gladly, especially when he saw how pleased Eleanor was and felt the grateful clasp of Aske's thin hand.

This event occurred about the end of July; a little more than two months after Steve's departure for America. Things had become much better in his cottage. Joyce was well, and growing almost pretty again, in the brighter prospects before her. Steve wrote her beautiful letters. He sent her money, he told her he was making a little home for her in New York, and that very soon it would be ready. And Joyce took kindly to the idea. She had been so poor and wretched that she did not feel as if she ever could hold up