ed them.

We sang and spoke pieces until nine o'clock and then we older members of
the party fell to with Mrs. Hacket and washed and dried the dishes and
put them away.

Next morning my clothes, which had been hung by the kitchen stove, were
damp and wrinkled. Mr. Racket came to my room before I had risen.

"Michael Henry would rather see his clothes hanging on a good boy than
on a nail in the closet," said he. "Sure they give no comfort to the
nail at all."

"I guess mine are dry now," I answered.

"They're wet and heavy, boy. No son o' Baldur could keep a light heart
in them. Sure ye'd be as much out o' place as a sunbeam in a cave o'
bats. If ye care not for your own comfort think o' the poor lad in the
green chair. He's that proud and pleased to see them on ye it would be a
shame to reject his offer. Sure, if they were dry yer own garments would
be good enough, God knows, but Michael Henry loves the look o' ye in
these togs and then the President is in town."

That evening he discovered a big stain, black as ink, on my coat and
trousers. Mr. Hacket expressed the opinion that it might have come from
the umbrella but I am quite sure that he had spotted them to save me
from the last home-made suit I ever wore, save in rough work, and keep
Michael Henry's on my back. In any event I wore them no more save at
chore time.

I began to make good progress in my studies that week and to observe the
affection with which Mr. Hacket was regarded in the school and village.
I remember that his eyes gave out and had to be bandaged but the boys
and girls in his room behaved even better than before. It was curious to
observe how the older ones controlled the younger in that emergency.

Sally came and went, with the Wills boy, and gave no heed to me. In her
eyes I had no more substance than a ghost, it seemed to me, although I
caught her, often, looking at me. I judged that her father had given her
a bad report of us and had some regrets, in spite of my knowledge that
we were right, although they related mostly to Amos.

Next afternoon I saw Mr. Wright and the President walking back and forth
on the bridge as they talked together. A number of men stood in front of
the blacksmith shop, by the river shore, watching them, as I passed, on
my way to the mill on an errand. The two statesmen were in broadcloth
and white linen and beaver hats. They stopped as I approached them.

"Well, partner, we shall be leaving in an hour or so,"