Daily he arose with the stern resolve that before the sun had set he would have told this woman of that which so oppressed him; yet each day, after he had dined, he stole furtively away to the hat rack and slouched across the street to his barn, gazing down at his feet with abasement on his soul.

"I ain't afeard o' any hoss that ever stood up," said he to himself, "but I can't say a word to that Nory girl, no matter how I try!" It was one of Sam's theories that some day he would go in late to dinner, when there was no one else left in the great hall.

He would ask Nora to come to serve him.

Then he would grasp her hand, there as she stood by him, and he would pour forth to her the story of his long unuttered love.

And then--but beyond this Sam could not think.