and the making out of the necessary notes to cover
the twenty-five hundred dollars due for the same.

He had not seen Alice at breakfast, nor did she appear at the dinner
table. He had followed the rule since she came to the house not to make
any open inquiries about her health, but from words dropped by Ezekiel
and Uncle Ike, he had kept fairly well informed as to the result of her
treatment. At dinner Ezekiel remarked that his sister had commenced to
take her new medicine, and that he reckoned it must be purty powerful,
for she had said that she didn't wish anything to eat, and didn't want
anything sent to her room.

Quincy politely expressed his regrets at her indisposition and trusted
that she would soon be able to join them again at meal time.

About three o'clock in the afternoon, Samuel Hill and his father
arrived, and Hiram, remembering Quincy's instructions, had found Ezekiel
Pettengill, and all came to the room together. It took a comparatively
short time to sign, seal, and deliver the documents and papers. It was
arranged that Samuel Hill and his father should take charge of the
grocery store and carry on the business until a week from the following
Monday; as Quincy told young Hill that he had some business to attend to
the early part of the following week that would prevent his giving any
attention to the store until the latter part of the week.

Quincy treated his principals and witnesses to cigars, and an
interchange of ideas was made in relation to the result of the auction
sale.

"How does Strout take it?" inquired Quincy.

"I don't know," spoke up Hiram. "He acts as though he thought I was
pizen. Every time he sees me he crosses over on t'other side of the
street, if we happen to be comin' towards each other."

"Well, I imagine," said Quincy, "that your usefulness to him has
departed in some respects, but it's just as well."

"Well," said young Hill, "I can tell you what he said the other night in
the grocery store. There was a crowd of his friends there, and he
remarked that you," turning to Quincy, "might own Hill's grocery store,
but that wasn't the whole earth. He said that he had no doubt that he
would be elected unanimously as tax collector, and he was sure of his
appointment as postmaster, and if he got it he should start another
grocery store on his own hook and make it lively for you."

"Well," said Quincy with a laugh, "competition is the life of trade, and
I sha'n't object if he d