o three times."

"Abner's niece! I want to know!"

"Well, I should think you might know by this time. Now about that
mortgage."

"Hey? Oh, yes--yes! You want a mortgage on Abner's place over to East
Wellmouth. Um! Well, I know the property and about what it's wuth--which
ain't much. What are you cal'latin' to do--live there?"

"Yes, if I can carry out the plan I've got in my head. I'm thinkin' of
fixin' up that old place and livin' in it. I'm figgerin' to run it as
a boardin'-house. It'll cost money to put it in shape and a mortgage is
the simplest way of raisin' that money, I suppose. That's the long and
short of it."

The dealer in mortgages appeared to hear and there was no reason why
he should not have understood. But he seemed still unsatisfied, even
suspicious. The whiskers received another series of pulls and he
regarded Thankful with the same questioning stare.

"And you say," he drawled, "that you come to me just because--"

"Mercy on us! If you don't know why I come by this time, then--"

"All right, all right. I--I'm talkin' to myself, I guess. Course you
told me why you come. So you're cal'latin' to start a boardin'-house,
eh? Risky things, boardin'-houses are. There's a couple of hundred
launched every year and not more'n ten ever make a payin' v'yage. Let's
hear what your plan is, the whole of it."

Fighting down her impatience Thankful went into details concerning her
plan. She explained why she had thought of it and her growing belief
that it might be successful. Mr. Cobb listened.

"Humph!" he grunted, when she had finished. "So Obed Bangs advised you
to try it, hey? That don't make me think no better of it, as I know of.
I know Bangs pretty well."

"Yes," dryly; "I supposed likely you did. Anyhow, he said he knew you."

"He did, hey? Told you some things about me, hey?"

"No, he didn't tell me anything except that you and he had had some
dealin's. Now, Mr. Cobb, we've talked a whole lot and it don't seem
to me we got anywheres. If you don't want to take a mortgage on that
place--"

"Sshh! Who said I didn't want to take it? How do I know what I want to
do yet? Lord! How you women do go on! Suppose I should take a mortgage
on that place--mind, I don't say I will, but suppose I should--how would
I know that the mortgage would be paid, or the interest, or anything?"

"If it ain't paid you can foreclose when the time comes, I presume
likely. As for the interest--well, I'm fairly honest, or