ge sellin'
somethin' at auction. DO be quiet! And you told him, Roscoe--?"

"I told you what I told him," I said.

"Um-hm. I ain't forgot it. Be quiet, Lute. Well, Roscoe, I cal'late you
know your own affairs best, but, judgin' from some hints Matildy Dean
hove out when she was here this afternoon, I don't believe you've heard
the last from that Shore Lane."

"Matilda Dean!" I repeated. "Why, Mother said Matilda wasn't here
to-day."

"Um-hm. Well, she was here, though Comfort didn't know it. I took pains
she shouldn't. Matildy come about three o'clock, in the buggy, along
with Nellie. Nellie was doin' the drivin', of course, and her mother
was tellin' her how, as usual. I don't wonder that girl is such a
meek, soft-spoken kind of thing. Between her pa's bullyin' and her ma's
tongue, it's a wonder she's got any spirit left. It would be a mercy if
George Taylor should marry her and take her out of that house. Matildy
had a new book on Spiritu'lism and she was figgerin' to read some of it
out loud to Comfort, but I headed her off. I know _I_ wouldn't want to
be all stirred up about 'tests' and 'materializations' and such, and so
I told her Comfort was asleep."

"She wasn't asleep, neither," declared Lute. "What did you tell such a
whopper as that for? You're always sailin' into me if I stretch a yarn
the least mite. Why, last April Fool Day you give me Hail Columby for
jokin' you about a mouse under the kitchen table. Called me all kinds of
names, you did--after you got down off the table."

His wife regarded him scornfully. "It's pretty hard to remember which IS
that partic'lar day with you around," she said. "I'd told Comfort she'd
ought to take a nap and if she wan't takin' it 'twan't my fault. I wan't
goin' to have her seein' her granddad's ghost in every corner. But,
anyhow, Matildy made a little call on me, and, amongst the million other
things she said, was somethin' about Cap'n Jed hearin' that Mr. Colton
was cal'latin' to shut off that Lane. Matildy hinted that her husband
and the Selectmen might have a little to say afore 'twas closed. If
that's so I guess you may hear from him as well as the Colton man,
Roscoe."

"Perhaps," I said. I could see no use in repeating my conversation with
Captain Jed.

Dorinda nodded.

"Goin' to tell the town to go--where you sent the other one?" she asked,
dryly.

"I don't know."

"Humph! Well," with some sarcasm, "it must be fine to be in a position
where money's no