ll lifted the bow once more, every
wincing nerve was enlisted in arresting it in mid-air.

"Mighty long tramp fur Bobbie, thar,--why n't ye kerry him!" y

The imperturbable calm still held fast on the musician's face. "Bob," he
addressed the toddler, "will you uns let daddy kerry ye like a baby!"

He swooped down as if to lift the child, the violin and bow in his left
hand. The hardy youngster backed off precipitately.

"Don't ye _dare_ ter do it!" he virulently admonished his parent, a
resentful light in his blue eyes. Then, as Bedell sang a stave in a full
rich voice, "Bye-oh, Baby!" Bob vociferated anew, "Don't you _begin_ ter
dare do it!" every inch a man though a little one.

"That's the kind of a fambly I hev got," Basil commented easily. "Wife
an' boy an' baby all walk over me,--plumb stomp on me! Jes' enough lef
of me ter play the fiddle a leetle once in a while."

"Mighty nigh all the while, I be afeared," Kennedy corrected the phrase.
"How did yer corn crap turn out!" he asked, as he too fell into line and
the procession moved on once more along the narrow path.

"Well enough," said Basil; "we uns hev got a sufficiency." Then, as if
afraid of seeming boastful he qualified, "Ye know I hain't got but
one muel ter feed, an' the cow thar. My sheep gits thar pastur' on
the volunteer grass 'mongst the rocks, an' I hev jes' got a few head
ennyhows."

"But _why_ hain't ye got more, Basil! Why n't ye work more and quit
wastin' yer time on that old fool fiddle!"

The limits of patience were reached. The musician fired up. "'Kase,"
he retorted, "I make enough. I hev got grace enough ter be thankful fur
sech ez be vouchsafed ter me. _I_ ain't wantin' no meracle."

Kennedy flushed, following in silence while the musician annotated his
triumph by a series of gay little harmonics, and young Hopeful, trudging
in the rear, executed a soundless fantasia on the cornstalk fiddle with
great brilliancy of technique.

"You uns air talkin' 'bout whut I said at the meetin' las' month,"
Kennedy observed at length.

"An' so be all the mounting," Aurelia interpolated with a sudden fierce
joy of reproof.

Kennedy winced visibly.

"The folks all 'low ez ye be no better than an onbeliever." Aurelia was
bent on driving the blade home. "The idee of axin' fur a meracle at this
late day,--so ez _ye_ kin be satisfied in yer mind ez ye hev got grace!
Providence, though merciful, air _obleeged_, ter know ez sech air plumb
scandalo