to venture a guess 't
Cousin Marion c'd get money out o' father with less pain 'n mother
could, under which circumstances I don't blame mother for closin' down
on the subjeck.

"The more I consider that letter up 'n' down 'n' hind end to, Mrs.
Lathrop, the plainer I see 's Cousin Marion must 'a' been a sore 'n'
abidin' thorn inside o' father 'n' mother. Perhaps it was that as give
him the paralysis! The doctor said 's it was suthin' obscure, 'n' 'f
suthin' 's ain't found out till years after you 're dead ain't obscure
I don't know what is. Anyway I 've took my stand 'n' it was the only
sensible one to take. This 's the first chance I 've ever had in all
my life to get a nice change without payin' board, 'n' so I jus' sat
right down 'n' wrote to Cousin Marion 't 'f it was convenient to her I
'd come to Knoxville 'n' spend next Sunday. She 's bound to be pleased
't bein' remembered after fifty years, 'n' I 've got father's nose,
'n' that 'll help some, o' course. She can't be worse 'n dead, 'n' 'f
she's dead 'n' don't answer I sha'n't never give the subjeck another
thought, f'r I naturally ain't got very fond o' her jus' from findin'
her musty old letter stuck in behind the flap of a trunk 's I 've been
achin' to hack to pieces these last twenty years. I never went up in
my garret without I skinned myself somewhere on that trunk, 'n' you
know how often I go up garret, Mrs. Lathrop, so it goes without sayin'
's I 've been considerably skinned first 'n' last. But 'f she sh'd be
alive 'n' I sh'd get to go there, the Lord knows I certainly shall
rejoice to have some o' my own to talk to, f'r blood is thicker 'n
water, 'n' although I don't want to hurt your feelin's, Mrs. Lathrop,
still you can't in conscience deny 's you ain't no conversationalist.
Nobody is that I know hereabouts, neither. The minister talks some,
but I 'm always thinkin' how much more I want to tell him things 'n I
ever want to hear what he has to say, so I can't in truth feel 's his
talkin' gives me much pleasure. Mrs. Macy 's great on gaspin', but she
don't as a general thing get very far, 'n' so the long 'n' short o'
the whole thing is 't if Cousin Marion ain't a change f'r the better
she can't noways be a change f'r the worst, 'n' so I 've made up my
mind to sail right in 'n' risk her.

"I 've thought 's it 'll be a nice idea to take her father's cane for
a present; it 'll surely come very handy to her,--'f she 's alive a
_tall_,--'n' since Mr. Kimba