`` Not a man of them can beat me when it comes to building a stack . When I offered to help Albert looked doubtful . ' I am afraid the work will be too hard for you , ' he said . ` Try me for a day and see , ' said I. ' I will do my darnedest . ' '' None of the Ingleside folks spoke for just a moment . Their silence meant that they thought Susan 's pluck in `` working out '' quite wonderful . But Susan mistook their meaning and her sun-burned face grew red . `` This habit of swearing seems to be growing on me , Mrs. Dr. dear , '' she said apologetically . `` To think that I should be acquiring it at my age ! It is such a dreadful example to the young girls . I am of the opinion it comes of reading the newspapers so much . They are so full of profanity and they do not spell it with stars either , as used to be done in my young days . This war is demoralizing everybody . '' Susan , standing on a load of grain , her grey hair whipping in the breeze and her skirt kilted up to her knees for safety and convenience -- no overalls for Susan , if you please -- neither a beautiful nor a romantic figure ; but the spirit that animated her gaunt arms was the self-same one that captured Vimy Ridge and held the German legions back from Verdun . It is not the least likely , however , that this consideration was the one which appealed most strongly to Mr. Pryor when he drove past one afternoon and saw Susan pitching sheaves gamely . `` Smart woman that , '' he reflected . `` Worth two of many a younger one yet . I might do worse -- I might do worse . If Milgrave comes home alive I 'll lose Miranda and hired housekeepers cost more than a wife and are liable to leave a man in the lurch any time . I 'll think it over . ''
A week later Mrs. Blythe , coming up from the village late XXXXX the afternoon , paused at the gate of Ingleside in an amazement which temporarily bereft her of the power of motion .
If from in of on over than that to with