ted--an' so he ain't--but that I'd
give one-forty, _cash_, what do you s'pose you'd 'a' said?'

"'Wa'al,' he says, givin' a hitch, 'of course I don't know jest what I
would have said, but I _guess_,' he says, ''t I'd 'a' said if you'll
make it one-fifty you c'n have the hoss.'

"'Wa'al, now,' I says, 's'posin' I was to send Dick Larrabee up here in
the mornin' with the money, what do you s'pose you'd do?'

"'I _s'pose_ I'd let him go,' says 'Lizer.

"'All right,' I says, an' off I put. That conscience o' 'Lizer's,"
remarked Mr. Harum in conclusion, "is wuth its weight in gold, _jest
about_."

"David Harum," declared Aunt Polly, "you'd ort to be 'shamed o'
yourself."

"Wa'al," said David with an air of meekness, "if I've done anythin' I'm
sorry for, I'm willin' to be forgi'n. Now, s'posin'----"

"I've heard enough 'bout s'posin' fer one day," said Mrs. Bixbee
decisively, "unless it's s'posin' you finish your dinner so's't Sairy
c'n git through her work sometime."

CHAPTER XXXV.

After dinner John went to his room and David and his sister seated
themselves on the "verandy." Mr. Harum lighted a cigar and enjoyed his
tobacco for a time in silence, while Mrs. Bixbee perused, with rather
perfunctory diligence, the columns of her weekly church paper.

"I seen a sight fer sore eyes this mornin'," quoth David presently.

"What was that?" asked Aunt Polly, looking up over her glasses.

"Claricy Verjoos fer one part on't," said David.

"The Verjooses hev come, hev they? Wa'al, that's good. I hope she'll
come up an' see me."

David nodded. "An' the other part on't was," he said, "she an' that
young feller of our'n was walkin' together, an' a putty slick pair they
made too."

"Ain't she purty?" said Mrs. Bixbee.

"They don't make 'em no puttier," affirmed David; "an' they was a nice
pair. I couldn't help thinkin'," he remarked, "what a nice hitch up
they'd make."

"Guess the' ain't much chance o' that," she observed.

"No, I guess not either," said David.

"He hain't got anythin' to speak of, I s'pose, an' though I reckon
she'll hev prop'ty some day, all that set o' folks seems to marry money,
an' some one's alwus dyin' an' leavin' some on 'em some more. The' ain't
nothin' truer in the Bible," declared Mrs. Bixbee with conviction, "'n
that sayin' thet them that has gits."

"That's seemin'ly about the way it runs in gen'ral," said David.

"It don't seem right," said Mrs. Bixbee, with her eyes on her