iah, however, was not even touched by the frost; she greeted
the pair cordially, and begged them to "take off their things."

It was dinner time before the catechizers departed. The catechized came
to the table with an impaired appetite. He looked troubled.

"Don't let it worry you, Mr. Ellery," observed Keziah calmly. "I think
I can satisfy you. Honest and true, I ain't half as bad as you might
think."

The minister looked more troubled than before; also surprised.

"Why, Mrs. Coffin!" he cried. "Could you hear--"

"No, no! I couldn't hear nothin' in that closet except my own opinion
on dirt and dust. But if I was as deaf as the man that set on the
powder keg and dropped his pipe ashes into it, it wouldn't have made any
difference. The man said after they picked him up that they needn't have
been so rough, he'd have moved without bein' pushed if they'd have made
signs they wanted to use the keg. And if I was out in the next lot I'd
have known what you was listenin' to in that sittin' room. They hinted
that they were real sorry for you, but 'twasn't any of THEIR doin's. The
parish committee, bein' just men, was apt to make mistakes in certain
matters. Of course everything MIGHT be well enough, and if you wa'n't
TOO particular about cookin' and so on, why--Anyhow, you mustn't think
that THEY were criticisin'. 'Twas only that they took an interest
and--That was about it, wasn't it?"

"Mrs. Coffin, I--I hope you don't think I paid any attention to their
remarks--of that kind, I mean. Honestly, I did my best to stop them. I
said--"

"Man alive! I'm not worried. Why should you be? We were talkin' about
trust just now--or I was. Well, you and I'll have to take each other on
trust for a while, until we see whether we're goin' to suit. If you see
anything that I'm goin' wrong in, I wish you'd tell me. And I'll do the
same by you, if that's agreeable. You'll hear a lot of things said about
me, but if they're very bad I give you my word they ain't true. And, to
be real frank, I'll probably hear some about you, which I'll take for
what they're worth and considerin' who said 'em. That's a good wholesome
agreement, I think, for both of us. What do you think?"

John Ellery said, with emphasis, that he thought well of it. He began to
realize that this woman, with her blunt common sense, was likely to be
a pilot worth having in the difficult waters which he must navigate as
skipper of the Regular church in Trumet. Also, he bega