very good
time," then receiving no reply, not even a grunt, he added, "Not at all,
the pleasure is entirely mine." The door closed and that was the end of
it.

Edna came running up. "Oh, Ben," she said, "how glad I am to see you.
Oh, wasn't it dreadful? How did you happen to come along?"

"Why, Pinky Blooms, I was on my way to grandpa's, thought I would come
to take mother back to-morrow, and, as it was a fine afternoon, I
concluded, to walk up from the station. Happened by just in the nick of
time, didn't I? Funny old curmudgeon, isn't Nathan?"

"Oh, he is terrible," responded Edna, with a remembrance of the uplifted
stick. "Are you going home with me?"

"No; you trot along with the rest of the brood; I am going to stay here
a few minutes and have a chat with the boys; I'll be along directly."

So Edna left him, the boys crowding around and asking all sorts of
questions. Ben was no new figure in the town, and most of them knew him
at least by sight. Just what he said to the boys, Edna never knew, but
it is a matter of comment that from that day on there were no more
tricks played on old Nathan Keener, and though the big stick was not so
much in evidence, it was a long time before any of the Elderflowers made
any headway in winning even so much as a grunt from him. It was a great
setback to the enthusiasm of the girls, but as Reliance told Esther Ann,
she should not have tried so venturesome a thing at the very outset.
"Mrs. Conway says we should have worked up to it gradually. It's just
like training a wild animal, you have to win its confidence first." But
Esther Ann declared she wanted no more of Nathan Keener, and Reliance
was perfectly welcome to try any methods she liked so long as Esther Ann
was not asked to share in the effort. It was a very exciting afternoon,
taking it all in all, and was the means of bringing some ridicule and
some censure upon the little club. One or two of the girls resigned,
saying their mothers did not approve of such proceedings. All this,
however, did not happen during Edna's Thanksgiving visit, but she heard
of it afterward, and of further matters concerning the Elderflowers.

CHAPTER XI

FAREWELLS

Edna had not finished telling her mother about the afternoon's
adventures when Ben came in. The family had gathered in the living-room,
Edna sitting on her grandfather's knee, and the others ranged around the
big fireplace. "There comes Ben now," Edna sang out, catching si