form, I know--this returning good for good with compound interest. But her
conscience won't let her rest unless she does everything she can for me, and
now she'll begin to do everything for Jane because she feels that
self-sacrifice is a duty. Anybody can be self-sacrificing. If I made up my
mind, I could ask Mrs. Mumpson to visit us all summer, but I couldn't like her
to save my life, and I don't suppose Alida can like me, beyond a certain
point, to save her life. But she'll do her duty. She'll be pleasant and
self-sacrificing and do all the work she can lay her hands on for my sake; but
when it comes to feeling toward me as I can't help feeling toward her--that
wasn't in the bargain," and he startled Jane with a sudden bitter laugh.

"Say," said the child, as if bent on adding another poignant reflection, "if
you hadn't married her, I could 'a' come and cooked for you."

"You think I'd been better off if I'd waited for you, eh?"

"You kinder looked as if yer thought so."

He now made the hills echo with a laugh, excited both by his bitter fancies
and the preposterous idea. She looked at him inquiringly and was much
perplexed by his unwonted behavior. Indeed, he was slightly astonished at his
own strange mood, but he yielded to it almost recklessly. "I say, Jane," he
began, "I'm not a very good-looking man, am I?"

She shook her head in emphatic agreement.

"I'm old and rough and hard-featured?"

Again she nodded approvingly.