to see her so grateful because I've given her a chance to help me out of the
worst scrape a man could be in! As if she hadn't changed everything for the
better! Here I am sure of my home and getting ahead in the world again, and
it's all her doing."

In admiration of his wife Holcroft quite forgot that there had been any
self-sacrifice on his part, and he concluded that he could endure Jane and
almost anything else as long as Alida continued to look after his comfort and
interests.

Now that the worst stress of Jane's anxiety was over, she proved that she was
half starved. Indeed she had few misgivings now, for her confidence that
Holcroft would accomplish what he attempted was almost unbounded. It was a
rather silent meal at first, for the farmer and his wife had much to think
about and Jane much to do in making up for many limited meals. At last
Holcroft smiled so broadly that Alida said, "Something seems to please you."

"Yes, more than one thing. It might be a great deal worse, and was, not long
ago. I was thinking of old times."

"How pleasant they must have been to make you look so happy!"

"They had their uses, and make me think of a picture I saw in a store window
in town. It was a picture of a woman, and she took my fancy amazingly. But
the point uppermost in my mind was a trick of the fellow who painted her. He
had made the background as dark as night and so she stood out as if alive; and
she looked so sweet and good that I felt like shaking hands with her. I now
see why the painter made the background so dark"

Alida smiled mischievously as she replied, "That was his art. He knew that