COMMUTER'S WIFE 337 



"Worse than that, Mr. Evan, and I'm shamefaced 

 to tell it. I'm going to marry Timothy Saunders ! " 



" Good Lord ! " cried Evan, checking a long- 

 drawn whistle with great effort. 



" Mr. Evan, sir, it's not that bad as you need 

 should speak so, I'm sure! I'm not fifty-two till 

 come last Guy Fawkes eve, and many an older 

 marries. My mother's sister Janet she took her 

 second when turning sixty and her third full five 

 years later." 



" It's not you, Martha," said Evan, pulling himself 

 together, and getting his laughing muscles well under 

 control. " I've often wondered, with your face and 

 figure, that you haven't married. In fact, once when 

 I was six years old and you gave me a whole queen 

 cake for not telling when I got a black eye in a fight 

 with the butcher's boy, who was your cousin's son, I 

 seriously thought of marrying you myself." 



"But you was always so considerate-like, Mr. 

 Evan," Martha interrupted, dropping her stiffness 

 and a curtsy at the same time. 



" It's Crumpled Tim I'm thinking of," continued 

 Evan. " He's good as gold, but not the sort of man 

 I should think would take your fancy, Martha. He's 

 lopsided and growing rheumatic ; besides, he has a 

 poor opinion of women. He has often said when 



