one 's is poor 'n' needin'.' He looked so crestfallen 't I made up my
mind 't it was then or never to settle my whole score with him, so I
up 'n' looked him right in the eye 'n' I says to him, I says, 'Mr.
Sperrit, you didn't seem to jus' realize what it meant to me that day
't I took that horse 'n' buggy 'n' drove 'way out to your farm to see
you; you didn't seem to think what it meant to me to take that trip:
but I c'n tell you 't it costs suthin' for a woman to do a thing like
that; it cost me a good deal--it cost me fifty cents.' He went away
then, 'n' he can marry Eliza Gringer if he likes, 'n' I'll wish 'em
both joy 'n' consider myself the luckiest o' the three."

Mrs. Lathrop chewed her clover.

"'N' then there's Jathrop!" continued the speaker, suddenly
transfixing her friend with a piercing glance,--"there's even Jathrop!
under my feet night 'n' day. I declare to you 't upon my honor I ain't
turned around four times out o' five this week without almost fallin'
over Jathrop wantin' me to give him a chance to explain his feelin's,
I don't wish to hurt your feelin's, Mrs. Lathrop, 'n' it's natural 't,
seein' you can't help yourself, you look upon him 's better 'n'
nothin', but still I will remark 't Jathrop's the last straw on top o'
my hump, 'n' this mornin' when I throwed out the dish-water 'n' hit
him by accident jus' comin' in, my patience clean gin out. I didn't
feel no manner o' sympathy over his soapy wetness, 'n' I spoke my mind
right then 'n' there. 'Jathrop Lathrop,' I says to him, all forgettin'
how big he'd got 'n' only rememberin' what a bother he's always been,
'Jathrop Lathrop, you let that soakin' be a lesson to you 'n' march
right straight home this instant, 'n' 'f you want to think of me,
think 't if I hear any more about your feelin's the feelin' you'll
have best cause to talk about 'll be the feelin' o' gettin' spanked.'"

Mrs. Lathrop sighed slightly.

Miss Clegg echoed the sigh.

"There never was a truer sayin' 'n' the one 't things goes by
contraries," she continued presently. "Here I've been figgerin' on
bein' so happy married, 'n' instid o' that I find myself missin'
father every few minutes. There was lots o' good about father,
particular when he was asleep. I'd got so used to his stayin' where I
put him 't I don't know 's I c'd ever get used to a man 's could get
about. 'F I wanted to talk, father was always there to listen, 'n' 'f
he wanted to talk I c'd always go downstairs. He