's. Do you
understand?" said he to Hiram. Hiram nodded. "Then go ahead," said
Quincy.

"Well, first," said Hiram, puffing his cigar with evident satisfaction,
"they got hold of the point that Miss Huldy drove back alone from
Eastborough Centre. Abner Stiles took Lindy Putnam down to the station
and she went to Boston on the same train that you did. Abner tried to
catch up with Huldy, so he could quiz her, but she whipped up her horse
and got away from him."

"Smart girl!" interjected Quincy.

"You can just bet," said Hiram, "there ain't a smarter one in this town,
though, of course, I think Mandy is pretty smart, too."

"Mandy's all right," said Quincy; "go ahead."

"Well, secondly, as the ministers say," continued Hiram, "Lindy Putnam
told Abner when he drove her home from the station that night that the
copper company that Mr. Sawyer told her to put her money in had busted,
and she'd lost lots of money. That's gone all over Mason's Corner, and
if Abner told Asa Waters, it's all over Eastborough Centre by this
time."

"The whole thing is a lie," said Quincy hotly; "the stock did go down,
but my father told me yesterday it had rallied and would soon advance
from five to ten points. What's the next confounded yarn?"

"Well, thirdly," continued Hiram, "of course everybody knows Jim Sawyer
was your uncle, and somebody said--you can guess who--that it would look
better if you would pay up his back board instead of spending so much
money on a fancy funeral and cheating the town undertaker out of a job."

"I paid him for all that he did," said Quincy.

"Yes," said Hiram, "but this is how it is. You see the undertaker makes
a contract with the town to bury all the paupers who die during the year
for so much money. They averaged it up and found that about three died a
year, so the town pays the undertaker on that calculation; but this
year, you see, only two have died, and there ain't another one likely to
die before town meeting day, which comes the first Monday in March, so,
you see the undertaker gets paid for buryin' your uncle, though he
didn't do it, and some one says--you can guess who--that he is going to
bring the matter up in town meeting."

Quincy smothered an exclamation and bit savagely into his cigar.

"Anything else?" inquired he. "Have they abused the ladies as well as
me?"

"No," said Hiram; "you see somebody--you know who--is giving Huldy music
lessons and he will keep quiet about her anyway; bu