ted and gripped the pipe in the
middle of its horizontal section.

"Seems to stick in the chimney there, don't it?" queried Keziah. "Wiggle
it back and forth; that ought to loosen it. What was it you wanted to
say, 'Bish?"

Apparently, Mr. Pepper had nothing to say. The crimson tide had reached
his ears, which, always noticeable because of their size and spread,
were now lit up like a schooner's sails at sunset. His hands trembled on
the pipe.

"Nothin', nothin', I tell you," he faltered. "I--I just run in to say
how d'ye do, that's all."

"Really, I think I'd better be going," said Grace, glancing from Kyan's
embarrassed face to that of the unsuspecting Mrs. Coffin. "I'm afraid
I'm in the way."

"No, no!" shouted the occupant of the chair. "No, no, you ain't!"

"But I'm afraid I am. And they'll be expecting me at home. Aunt Keziah,
I--"

"Don't be in such a hurry," interrupted Keziah. "Does stick in the
chimney, don't it? Tell you what you can do, Grace; you can go in the
woodshed and fetch the hammer that's in the table drawer. Hurry up,
that's a good girl."

Kyan protested that he did not need the hammer, but his protest was
unheeded. With one more glance at the couple, Grace departed from the
kitchen, biting her lips. She shut the door carefully behind her. Mr.
Pepper labored frantically with the pipe.

"No use to shake it any more till you get the hammer," advised Keziah.
"Might's well talk while you're waitin'. What was it you wanted to tell
me?"

Abishai drew one hand across his forehead, leaving a decorative smooch
of blacking on his perspiring countenance. He choked, swallowed, and
then, with a look at the closed door, seemed to reach a desperate
resolve.

"Keziah," he whispered hurriedly, "you've known me quite a spell, ain't
you?"

"Known you? Known you ever since you were born, pretty nigh. What of
it?"

"Yes, yes. And I've known you, you know. Fact is, we've known each
other."

"Hear the man! Land sakes! don't everybody in Trumet know everybody
else? What ARE you drivin' at?"

"Keziah, you're a single woman."

His companion let go of the chair, which she had been holding in place,
and stepped back.

"I'm a single woman?" she repeated sharply. "What do you mean by that?
Did--did anybody say I wasn't?"

"No, no! 'Course not. But you're a widow, so you BE single, you know,
and--"

"Well? Did you think I was twins? Get down off there this minute. You've
gone crazy. I thought so whe