perhaps we might invite Mrs. Armstrong and Babbie. You know them,
Jed, so they won't be like strangers. And Pa thinks Mrs. Armstrong
is a very nice lady, a real addition to the town; I've heard him
say so often," she added, earnestly.

Jed was silent. She looked up at him from under the brim of the
new hat.

"You wouldn't mind them, Jed, would you?" she asked. "They
wouldn't be like strangers, you know."

Jed rubbed his chin. "I--I don't know's I would," he mused,
"always providin' they didn't mind me. But I don't cal'late Mrs.
Ruth--Mrs. Armstrong, I mean--would want to leave Charlie to home
alone on Thanksgivin' Day. If she took Babbie, you know, there
wouldn't be anybody left to keep him company."

Miss Hunniwell twirled the fox tail in an opposite direction. "Oh,
of course," she said, with elaborate carelessness, "we should
invite Mrs. Armstrong's brother if we invited her. Of course we
should HAVE to do that."

Jed nodded, but he made no comment. His visitor watched him from
beneath the hat brim.

"You--you haven't any objection to Mr. Phillips, have you?" she
queried.

"Eh? Objections? To Charlie? Oh, no, no."

"You like him, don't you? Father likes him very much."

"Yes, indeed; like him fust-rate. All hands like Charlie, the
women-folks especially."

There was a perceptible interval before Miss Hunniwell spoke again.
"What do you mean by that?" she asked.

"Eh? Oh, nothin', except that, accordin' to your dad, he's a
'specially good hand at waitin' on the women and girls up at the
bank, polite and nice to 'em, you know. He's even made a hit with
old Melissy Busteed, and it takes a regular feller to do that."

He would not promise to appear at the Hunniwell home on
Thanksgiving, but he did agree to think it over. Maud had to be
content with that. However, she declared that she should take his
acceptance for granted.

"We shall set a place for you," she said. "Of course you'll come.
It will be such a nice party, you and Pa and Mrs. Armstrong and I
and little Babbie. Oh, we'll have great fun, see if we don't."

"And Charlie; you're leavin' out Charlie," Jed reminded her.

"Oh, yes, so I was. Well, I suppose he'll come, too. Good-by."

She skipped away, waving him a farewell with the tail of the silver
fox. Jed, gazing after her, rubbed his chin reflectively.

His indecision concerning the acceptance of the Hunniwell
invitation lasted until the day before Thanksgiving.