object. I never tried it, myself, but it sounds good."

I did not answer.

"Um-hm," she said. "Well, anyhow it looks to me--Lute, you keep
still--as if there was goin' to be two parties in Denboro afore this
Lane business is over. One for the Coltons and one against 'em. You'll
have to take one side or the other, won't you, Roscoe?"

"Not necessarily."

"Goin' to set on the fence, hey?"

"That's a good place TO sit, isn't it?"

Dorinda smiled, grimly.

"If it's the right kind of a fence, maybe 'tis," she observed.
"Otherwise the pickets are liable to make you uncomf'table after a
spell, I presume likely."

I went out soon after this, for my evening smoke and walk by the bluff.
As I left the dining-room I heard Lute reiterating his belief that I
had gone crazy. Colton had said the same thing. I wondered what Captain
Jed's opinion would be.

Whether it was another phase of my insanity or not, I don't know, but
I woke the next morning in pretty good spirits. Remembrance of the
previous day's humiliations troubled me surprisingly little. They did
not seem nearly so great in the retrospect. What difference did it make
to me what that crowd of snobs did or said or thought?

However, there was just enough bitterness in my morning's review of
yesterday's happenings to make me a little more careful in my dress. I
did not expect to meet my aristocratic neighbors--I devoutly wished it
might be my good luck never to meet any of them again--but in making
selections from my limited wardrobe I chose with more thought than
usual. Dorinda noticed the result when I came down to breakfast.

"Got your other suit on, ain't you," she observed.

"Yes," said I.

"Goin' anywheres special?"

"No. Down to the boathouse, that's all."

"Humph! I don't see what you put those blue pants on for. They're awful
things to show water spots. Did you leave your brown ones upstairs?
Um-hm. Well, I'll get at 'em some time to-day. I noticed they was
wearin' a little, sort of, on the bottoms of the legs."

I had noticed it, too, and this reminder confirmed my suspicions that
others had made the same observations.

"I'll try and mend 'em this afternoon," went on Dorinda, "if I can find
time. But, for mercy's sake, don't spot those all up, for I may not get
time, and then you'd have to wear your Sunday ones."

I promised, curtly, to be careful, and, after saying good morning to
Mother, I went down to the boathouse and set to work on the en