ys. Set down, Mr. Sawyer, and tell me all the news. Have you heerd
anybody going to git engaged or anybody going to git married? I heerd as
how you had left Deacon Mason's. So you 'cided to take my advice. I'm
kinder sorry you tipped the buggy over, for Huldy Mason's a nice girl.
The fact is I was thinkin' more of her than I was of you, when I told
yer you'd better git out. Where be yer boardin' now?"

"I am boarding at Mr. Ezekiel Pettengill's. His sister has got home and
his Uncle Isaac has come back to live with him."

"Lord sakes, do tell!" said Mrs. Putnam. "I allus thought that old fool
would die out there in the woods and they'd bury him in his chicken
coop. But what on airth is Alice home for? Has she lost her job?"

"No," replied Quincy; "poor girl, she has almost lost her sight. She
has been very sick, and as a result she is almost blind, and had to give
up work and come home."

Mrs. Putnam sank back in her chair.

"If I didn't think you were a truthful man, Mr. Sawyer, I wouldn't
b'lieve a word you said. My poor Alice. Why, do you know, Mr. Sawyer, I
never saw a human being in all my life that I liked so much as I have
Alice Pettengill. Did you ever see her, Mr. Sawyer?"

"No," said Quincy, "she only arrived yesterday afternoon, and she did
not appear at supper nor at breakfast this morning. She was tired and
wished to rest, her brother told me."

"Well, I hope she won't die," said Mrs. Putnam. "I have left her every
dollar I've got in the world, and if she should die I shouldn't know who
on airth to give it to. Well, there, I've let the cat out of the bag,
and my daughter Lindy, mean as she is about money, would give a thousand
dollars to know who I am goin' to leave my money to. I wish I could see
Alice. I can't walk, and that poor, deaf girl can't see. Why, Mr.
Sawyer, I think she's the prettiest, sweetest girl I ever sot eyes on in
my life, and I've seed a good many on 'em. Now you tell me what you
think of her the next time you come up, won't you, Mr. Sawyer?"

"I certainly will," said Quincy, "and if she will come with me I will
bring her over to see you. If she came from Boston with her brother, she
can surely ride as far as this," he added.

"Tell her I shall count every minute till she, comes over here, but
don't say a word to her about my money," said Mrs. Putnam.

"Certainly not," Quincy answered. "You did not intend to tell me."

"No, I didn't," acknowledged Mrs. Putnam, "it slipped out