e, 'tis for a
thousand pound. Screeeeeee!"

Swinging himself upright, the parrot flapped his wings, and uttered a
blood-curdling shriek. Mrs. Weight gave a single squawk, and fled into
the inner room, slamming the door violently after her.

"How you can harbor Satan, Prudence Pardon, is more than I can
understand," she panted, purple with rage. "If there was a _man_ in this
village, he'd wring that bird's neck."

Miss Prudence was removing pins from her mouth, preparatory to a reply,
when Miss Penny appeared, very pink, it might be with indignation at the
parrot's misconduct.

"There, Mis' Weight!" she said, soothingly, "I'm real sorry. You mustn't
mind what a bird says. It's only what those wild boys taught him, Arthur
Blyth and Willy Jaquith, and I'm sure neither one of 'em would do it
to-day, let alone Arthur's being dead. Why, he says it off same as he
would a psalm, if they'd taught him that, as of course it's a pity they
didn't. You won't mind now, will you, Mis' Weight?"

Mrs. Weight, very majestic, deposited her bundle on the table, and sat
down.

"I say nothing of the dead," she proclaimed, after a pause, "and but
little of the livin'; but I should be lawth to have the load on my
shoulders that Mis' Tree has. The Day of Judgment will attend to Arthur
Blyth, but she is responsible for Will Jaquith's comin' back to this
village, and how she can sleep nights is a mystery to me. I thank
Gracious _I_ see through him at once. Some may be deceived, but I'm not
one of 'em."

"Now, Mis' Weight, I wouldn't talk so, if I was you," said Miss Penny,
still soothingly. "Willy Jaquith's doing real pretty in the office,
everybody says. Mr. Homer's tickled to death to have him there, and
they've got the place slicked up so you wouldn't know it. I always
thought Homer Hollopeter had a sufferin' time under Isr'el Nudd, though
he never said anything. It's not his way."

"What did you say you wanted done with this skirt?" asked Miss Prudence,
breaking in. She had less patience than Miss Penny, and she bent her
steel-bowed spectacles on the visitor with a look which meant, "Come to
business, if you have any!"

"Well, I don't hardly know!" said Mrs. Weight, unrolling her bundle.
"I'm so upset with that screeching Limb there, I feel every minute as if
I should have palpitations. It does seem as if the larger I got the
frailer I was inside. The co'ts of my stom--"

"I thought you said 'twas a skirt!" Miss Prudence broke in