`` Poor Lou , '' she said softly , as she brushed a loose lock of grey hair back from the sleeping woman 's brow . Nan Nan was polishing the tumblers at the pantry window , outside of which John Osborne was leaning among the vines . His arms were folded on the sill and his straw hat was pushed back from his flushed , eager face as he watched Nan 's deft movements . Beyond them , old Abe Stewart was mowing the grass in the orchard with a scythe and casting uneasy glances at the pair . Old Abe did not approve of John Osborne as a suitor for Nan . John was poor ; and old Abe , although he was the wealthiest farmer in Granville , was bent on Nan 's making a good match . He looked upon John Osborne as a mere fortune-hunter , and it was a thorn in the flesh to see him talking to Nan while he , old Abe , was too far away to hear what they were saying . He had a good deal of confidence in Nan , she was a sensible , level-headed girl . Still , there was no knowing what freak even a sensible girl might take into her head , and Nan was so determined when she did make up her mind . She was his own daughter in that . However , old Abe need not have worried himself . It could not be said that Nan was helping John Osborne on in his wooing at all . Instead , she was teasing and snubbing him by turns . Nan was very pretty . Moreover , Nan was well aware of the fact . She knew that the way her dark hair curled around her ears and forehead was bewitching ; that her complexion was the envy of every girl in Granville ; that her long lashes had a trick of drooping over very soft , dark eyes in a fashion calculated to turn masculine heads hopelessly . John Osborne knew all this too , to his cost . He had called to ask Nan to go with him to the Lone Lake picnic the next day . At this request Nan dropped her eyes and murmured that she was sorry , but he was too late -- she had promised to go with somebody else . There was no need of Nan 's making such a mystery about it .
The somebody else was her only cousin , Ned Bennett , who had had a quarrel with his own girl ; the latter lived at Lone Lake , and Ned had coaxed Nan XXXXX go over with him and try her hand at patching matters up between him and his offended lady-love .
At Beyond although by from in on that to with