His rugged features became very somber as he said, "I wish I had as much
courage as you have."

"You don't understand me--" she began gently.

"No, I suppose not. It's all become a muddle to me. I mean this church and
religious business."

She looked at him wistfully, as if she wished to say something, but did not
venture to do so. He promptly gave a different turn to the conversation by
quoting Mrs. Mumpson's tirade on churchgoing the first Sunday after her
arrival. Alida laughed, but not in a wholly mirthful and satisfied way.
"There!" he concluded, "I'm touching on things a little too sacred for you. I
respect your feelings and beliefs, for they are honest and I wish I shared in
'em." Then he suddenly laughed again as he added, "Mrs. Mumpson said there
was too much milking done on Sunday, and it's time I was breaking the Fourth
Commandment, after her notion."

Alida now laughed outright, without reservation.

"'By jocks!' as Watterly says, what a difference there is in women!" he
soliloquized on his way to the barn. "Well, the church question is settled for
the present, but if Alida should ask me to go, after her manner this morning,
I'd face the whole creation with her."

When at last he came in and threw off his waterproof coat, the kitchen was in
order and his wife was sitting by the parlor fire with Thomson's "Land and the
Book" in her hand.