unny! You've been readin' novels, I'm
'fraid, teacher, 'though I didn't suspect it of you."

He laughed heartily. Miss Dawes smiled, too, but she still persisted.

"Well," she said, "I don't know. Perhaps it is because I'm a woman, and
politics don't mean as much to me as to you men, but to me political
reasons don't seem strong enough to account for such actions as those
of Mr. Atkins. Emily's mother was a Thayer, wasn't she? and the Thayers
once lived in Orham. I wish we could find out more about them while they
lived there."

Asaph Tidditt pulled his beard thoughtfully.

"Well," he observed, "maybe we can, if we want to, though I don't think
what we find out 'll amount to nothin'. I was kind of cal'latin' to go
to Orham next week on a little visit. Seth Wingate over there--Barzilla
Wingate's cousin, Whit--is a sort of relation of mine, and we visit back
and forth every nine or ten year or so. The ten year's most up, and he's
been pesterin' me to come over. Seth's been Orham town clerk about as
long as I've been the Bayport one, and he's lived there all his life.
What he don't know about Orham folks ain't wuth knowin'. If you say so,
I'll pump him about the Thayers and the Richards. 'Twon't do no harm,
and the old fool likes to talk, anyhow. I don't know's I ought to speak
that way about my relations," he added doubtfully, "but Seth IS sort of
stubborn and unlikely at odd times. We don't always agree as to which is
the best town to live in, you understand."

So it was settled that Mr. Wingate should be subjected to the "pumping"
process when Asaph visited him. He departed for this visit the following
week, and remained away for ten days. Meanwhile several things happened
in Bayport.

One of these things was the farewell of the Honorable Heman Atkins.
Congress was to open at Washington, and the Honorable heeded the call
of duty. Alicia and the housekeeper went with him, and the big house was
closed for the winter. At the gate between the stone urns, and backed
by the iron dogs, the great man bade a group of admiring constituents
good-by. He thanked them for their trust in him, and promised that it
should not be betrayed.

"I leave you, my fellow townsmen, er--ladies and friends," he said,
"with regret, tempered by pride--a not inexcusable pride, I believe. In
the trying experience which my self-respect and sympathy has so recently
forced upon me, you have stood firm and cheered me on. The task I have
undertaken