The Mountain Girl by Emma Payne Erskine Chapter 32 Page 15

wont to bring help and often comforts, and found himself therein lauded and idolized as few of his station ever are.

Again he was “Doctah Thryng,” and the love that accompanied the title, in the hearts of those mountain people, was regal. He enjoyed his little farm, and the gathering of his first “crap,” counting his bundles of fodder and his bushels of corn. Sometimes he rode with Cassandra, visiting the old haunts; at such times David insisted that the boy be left with the grandmother or that Martha should come up to mind him, that he might have his wife free and quite to himself as in their first days.

But all this time, although silent about it, Cassandra kept in her heart the thought of David’s real state. She felt he was playing a part to bring her joy,