hat--an' Mrs.
Shores wasn't one to have any man but her own husband comin' in an' out
o' the house at all hours, an' so if she'd got to the point where she
wanted a man as wasn't her own husband comin' in an' out, she just had
to up an' run away with him, an' I never have been one to say no ill of
her, for I look on Mr. Shores with a cool an' even eye, an' lookin' on
Mr. Shores with a cool an' even eye leads me to fully an' freely approve
of every thin' as his wife ever done."

"I--" said Mrs. Lathrop.

"Yes, I know it, an' that's why I speak as I do. But Elijah seems to
think as suthin' else ought to of happened since then, an' he asked me
if I didn't know of nothin' as was bein' tried to be covered up as he
could uncover, an' I really did try to think of suthin' but nobody ever
covers up nothin' here. Nobody could if they wanted to. Everybody knows
everythin' about everybody. We all know about Lucy an' Hiram, 'cause
Gran'ma Mullins is always tellin' her side an' Hiram's side, an' Lucy
is always tellin' her side an' Hiram's other side. Gran'ma Mullins says
when she sees a man like Hiram havin' to devote his strength an' his
Sundays to catchin' water-bugs, she most feels she's been a mother in
vain, an' Lucy says when she realizes as she's married a man as can't be
put to no better use Sundays than catchin' water-bugs, she ain't got no
doubt at all as to what she's married. Lucy's gettin' very bitter about
marriage; she says when she thinks as she may be picked out for a golden
weddin' she feels like tyin' balloons to her feet an' goin' out an'
standin' on her head in the crick. Elijah asked me if maybe she was n't
in love with some one else as he could just notice in general kind o'
terms, but I told him he did n't know what Lucy Dill was on men now as
Hiram has got her eyes open. Why, Lucy don't believe no more in love a
_tall_. Lucy says if she was rid of men an' left on a desert island
alone, with one cow, so she could have eggs an' milk toast regular,
she'd never watch for no ship, an' if a ship heaved up anywhere near,
she'd heave down so quick that if any one on the ship had seen her
they'd think they imagined her afore they'd get ready to go to her
rescue. Elijah shook his head then, an' trailed off to Polly Allen; he
said there must be thirty-five years between Polly an' the deacon, an'
could n't suthin' be hinted at about them. That set me to wonderin', an'
it's really very strange when you come to think of i