. Bixbee with a twinkle, "I reckon Dave might hev
to be fixed up some afore he come out in that pertic'ler shape, but,"
she added impressively, "es fur as bein' a _man_ goes, he's 'bout 's
good 's they make 'em. I know folks thinks he's a hard bargainer, an'
close-fisted, an' some on 'em that ain't fit to lick up his tracks says
more'n that. He's got his own ways, I'll allow, but down at bottom, an'
all through, I know the' ain't no better man livin'. No, ma'am, the'
ain't, an' what he's ben to me, Cynthy Cullom, nobody knows but
me--an'--an'--mebbe the Lord--though I hev seen the time," she said
tentatively, "when it seemed to me 't I knowed more about my affairs 'n
He did," and she looked doubtfully at her companion, who had been
following her with affirmative and sympathetic nods, and now drew her
chair a little closer, and said softly: "Yes, yes, I know. I ben putty
doubtful an' rebellious myself a good many times, but seems now as if He
had had me in His mercy all the time." Here Aunt Polly's sense of humor
asserted itself. "What's Dave ben up to now?" she asked.

And then the widow told her story, with tears and smiles, and the keen
enjoyment which we all have in talking about ourselves to a sympathetic
listener like Aunt Polly, whose interjections pointed and illuminated
the narrative. When it was finished she leaned forward and kissed Mrs.
Cullom on the cheek.

"I can't tell ye how glad I be for ye," she said; "but if I'd known
that David held that morgige, I could hev told ye ye needn't hev worried
yourself a mite. He wouldn't never have taken your prop'ty, more'n he'd
rob a hen-roost. But he done the thing his own way--kind o' fetched it
round fer a Merry Chris'mus, didn't he?"

CHAPTER VI

David's house stood about a hundred feet back from the street, facing
the east. The main body of the house was of two stories (through which
ran a deep bay in front), with mansard roof. On the south were two
stories of the "wing," in which were the "settin' room," Aunt Polly's
room, and, above, David's quarters. Ten minutes or so before one o'clock
John rang the bell at the front door.

"Sairy's busy," said Mrs. Bixbee apologetically as she let him in, "an'
so I come to the door myself."

"Thank you very much," said John. "Mr. Harum told me to come over a
little before one, but perhaps I ought to have waited a few minutes
longer."

"No, it's all right," she replied, "for mebbe you'd like to wash an'
fix up