sick. She
says she would n't say it to no one but me, an' I promised her never to
breathe it along any further, but she says she's beginnin' to question
as to how long she's goin' to be able to stand it all. She says will you
believe that nights Gran'ma Mullins is comin' in softly at all hours to
tuck up Hiram's feet, an' Lucy's forever thinkin' she's either a rat or
a robber or else hittin' at her for Hiram himself. She says as it's
Heaven's own truth as Gran'ma Mullins is warmin' his flannels every
Saturday to this day, an' that the tears stand in her very eyes when
Lucy won't help him off with his boots."

"I never--" said Mrs. Lathrop.

"No, nor no one else. It's all Gran'ma Mullins' foolishness. She begun
to be foolish when Hiram begun to know things. I can remember when he
used to run everywhere behind her with a little whip, 'cause he liked to
play horse, an' although she used to pretend that she let him 'cause it
kept the moths out of her clothes, still every one knowed as it was just
her spoilin' of him. Now he's growed up spoiled an' poor Lucy Dill's got
the consequences to suffer.

"An' Lucy surely is sufferin'! She says she ain't exactly discouraged,
but it's swimmin' up Niagara Falls to try an' break either of 'em of
their bad habits. She says she has to look on at kisses until the very
thought of one makes her seasick, an' she says to see Gran'ma Mullins
listenin' to Hiram singin' is enough to make any one blush down to the
very ground.

"I cheered her all I could. I told her as you can't make no sort of a
purse out of ears like Hiram's, an' that what can't be cured has always
got to be lived with unless you're a man. She cried some, poor thing,
an' said her mother always used to say as Hiram was cut out to make some
girl wish he was dead, but she said she always thought as her mother
was prejudiced. She said Hiram had a sort of way with him before he was
married as was so hopeful, an' he used to look at her an' sigh till it
just went all through her how happy they'd be if they could only be
together all they wanted to be together. Well, you c'n believe me or
not, just as you please, Mrs. Lathrop, but she says he ain't sighed
once--not once--since they was married, an' as for bein'
happy--well--she says she's about give up hope. She don't want folks to
know, 'cause she says she's got some pride, but she says there's no
tellin' how soon it'll run out if Gran'ma Mullins keeps on huggin'
Hiram, an' telli