are pan is o' purpose for you."

Lonzo stowed a third of the contents of the pan in his cavernous mouth,
the rest in various pockets, and departed grinning happily.

"He's as good as gold!" said Mr. Cheeseman. "Not a mite of harm in
Lonzo; I wish all sensible folks was as pleasant. Now, friend Parks,
bile up!"

Calvin pulled his brown moustache, and looked shy.

"I guess I'm pretty slow molasses, Mr. Cheeseman," he said. "I ain't
used to bilin', except in the way of gettin' mad once in a while, and I
don't do that real often; but yet I'll try my best."

In a few words he described the twins and his relation to them. "No kin,
you know, blood nor married; only just neighbors all our lives till
late years. I should expect to do a neighbor's part by the boys,
week-days and Sundays, and I dono as ever I've done contrary."

Then he told, with more reserve, of "Miss Hands's" coming; of his
finding her there; of her striking him as, take it all round, the
likeliest woman ever he saw; of his saying to himself that if ever
things turned out so that he had a right to ask a woman to hitch her
wagon to a middle-aged hoss that had some go in him yet, here was the
woman.

"But yet I told myself first thing," he added, taking up the poker and
tapping the bright little stove with it; "I told myself she would be
marryin' one of the boys most likely; I kep' that in mind steady, as you
may say. I thought I was so used to the idee that it wouldn't jar me
much of any when it come to the fact. But it did; yes siree, it did,
sure enough. 'Peared as if a cog slipped somehow, and my whole works
was jolted out of kilter."

He looked anxiously at Mr. Cheeseman, who nodded with grave
comprehension.

"And when it comes," he went on, "to each one of them beseechin' me to
get her to marry the other--why--I really am blowed, Mr. Cheeseman, and
do you wonder at it?"

"She's done!" said Mr. Cheeseman, rising. "Lend a hand with that pan,
friend Parks; the big square one yonder."

A moment of anxious silence followed, as the thick golden-brown mass
flowed into the pan, curled into the corners, and finally settled in a
smooth glossy sheet.

"There!" said Mr. Cheeseman. "Now we'll let her cool a spell till she's
fit to handle. Take your seat, friend Parks! No, I don't wonder no way
in the world at your bein' blowed, or jolted either. What gets me is,
why don't you speak for yourself, like that other feller in the story?"

Calvin Parks pulled