And when he returned at the end of the week there was something for Mattie, some little token of his affection; a proof that he had cherished her in his thoughts while absent.
This little love affair did not fail to attract the attention of the Chapman family.

Nor was honest Hanz Toodleburg indifferent to what was going on.

Indeed, the gossips at the inn had joked Hanz about it, hinting at a future connection of the two families.

To all of which Hanz would reply that Tite was only a boy yet, and had a good deal of other kinds of business to do before thinking of what sort of a wife he wanted.

"If ta torter ish like ta fader, sho quarrelsome, t'man what gets her for a vife don't lives in t'house mit her," Hanz would always conclude.
Young as Tite was, he began to look on the matter seriously.