nd entered the gate.

"Howdy, folks?" he said. "Wonder if I kin speak with Mr. Spackles
without interferin'?"

"Certain you kin," said Grandmother Penny, cordially.

"Got a important bankin' matter over to the county seat, Mr. Spackles,
and I was wonderin' if I could figger on your help?"

"To be sure you kin, Scattergood. To be sure."

"Got to have a brainy man over there day after to-morrer. B'jing! that's
circus day, too. Didn't think of that till this minnit. Wonder if you'd
drive my boss and buggy over and fix up a deal with the president of the
bank?"

"Glad to 'bleege," said the flattered Mr. Spackles.

"Circus day," Scattergood repeated. "Been to a circus lately, Mis'
Penny?"

"Hain't seen one for years."

"No?... Mr. Spackles, what be you thinkin' of? To be sure. Why, you kin
bundle Mis' Penny into the buggy and take her along with you! Finish the
business in no time, bein' spry like you be, and then you and her kin
take in the circus and the side show, and stay f'r the concert. How's
that?"

Mr. Spackles was suddenly red and embarrassed, but Grandmother Penny
beamed.

"Why," says she, "makes me feel like a young girl ag'in. To be sure I'll
go. Daughter'll make a fuss, but I jest don't care if she does. I'm
a-goin'."

"That's the way to talk," said Scattergood. "Mr. Spackles'll be round
f'r you bright and early. Now, if you kin spare him, I calc'late we got
to talk business."

When they were in the street Mr. Spackles choked and coughed, and said
with some vexation:

"You went and got me in f'r it that time."

"How so, Mr. Spackles? Don't you want to take Mis' Penny to the circus?"

"Course I do, but circuses cost money. I hain't got more 'n a quarter to
my name."

"H'm!... Didn't calc'late I was askin' you to take a day of your time
for _nothin_', did you? F'r a trip like this here, with a lot hangin' on
to it, I'd say ten dollars was about the fittin' pay. What say?"

Mr. Spackles's beaming face was answer enough.

Grandmother Penny and Mr. Spackles went to the circus in a more or less
surreptitious manner. It was a wonderful day, a successful day, such a
day as neither of them had expected ever to see again, and when they
drove home through the moonlight, across the mountains, their souls
were no longer the souls of threescore and ten, but of twoscore and one.

"Great day, wa'n't it, Ellen?" said Mr. Spackles, softly.

"Don't call to mind nothin' approachin' it, James."

"You be