The settlement of Andrew Kelton's estate gave him an excuse for consulting her frequently, but he sought her frankly for the pleasure of seeing her.

He found that she was a good deal at Mrs.
Owen's, and it was pleasanter to run in upon her there than at Elizabeth House, where they must needs share the parlor with other callers.

Often he and Allen met at Mrs.Owen's and debated the questions that were forever perplexing young Thatcher's eager mind,--debates that Mrs.Owen suffered to run so far and then terminated with a keen observation that left no more to be said, sending them to the pantry to forage for food and drink.

Thatcher had resented for a time Harwood's participation in his humiliation at the convention; but his ill-feeling had not been proof against Allen's warm defense.

Thatcher's devotion to his son had in it a kind of pathos, and it was not in him to vent his spleen against his son's best friend.
A few days after the election Thatcher invited Harwood to join him and Allen in a week's shooting in the Kankakee where he owned a house-boat that Allen had never seen.
"Come up, Dan, and rest your voice.