It was told on good authority in the village that Parson Fair had paid all Burr Gordon's back interest money on his mortgage, and so released him from the danger of foreclosure; and then on equally good authority it was denied.

There was much discussion over it, but one day the loafers in the store arrived at the truth.

Parson Fair had indeed offered to pay the interest, and Burr had declined.

He had also refused to live with his bride in his father-in-law's house, and when Parson Fair had, with his gracefully austere manner, intimated that he should be unwilling to place his daughter in such uncertain shelter, had replied harshly that Dorothy should have a roof over her head of his own providing while he lived; when he was dead it would be time to talk about her father's.
When Burr had gone to Lot Gordon and offered to part with a small wood-lot of his, with a quantity of half-grown wood thereon, at two-thirds of its real value to pay the interest, Margaret Bean had listened at the door, and thus the story.
"It is a sacrifice of a full third of its value, you know well enough," Burr had said, standing moodily before his cousin.

"If I could wait for the growth of the wood, 'twould bring much more, but I'll call it even on the interest I owe you, if you will.