ar yisterd'y an'
it beats all how snug they're fixed! The schoolroom's ez neat as a pin,
an' pitchers on the walls wuth a day's journey to see. They're havin' a
room built onto the farther end--a kind of er relief hospital, so
Father Honore told me--ter help out when the quarrymen git a jammed foot
er finger, so's they needn't be took home to muss up their little cabins
an' worrit their wives an' little 'uns. I heerd Aileen hed ben goin' up
thar purty reg'lar lately for French an' sich; guess Mis' Champney's
done 'bout the right thing by her, eh, Tave?"

Octavius nodded. "And Aileen's done the right thing by Mrs. Champney. 'T
isn't every young girl that would stick to it as Aileen's done the last
six years--not in the circumstances."

"You're right, Tave. I heerd not long ago thet she was a-goin' on the
stage when she'd worked out her freedom, and by A. J. she's got the
voice for it! But I'd hate ter see _her_ thar. She's made a lot er
sunshine in this place, and I guess from all I hear there's them thet
would stan' out purty stiff agin it; they say Luigi Poggi an' Romanzo
Caukins purty near fit over her t' other night."

"You needn't believe all you hear, Joel, but you can believe me when I
tell you there'll be no going on the stage for Aileen--not if I know it,
or Father Honore either."

He spoke so emphatically that his brother Augustus looked at him in
surprise.

"What's up, Tave?" he inquired.

"I mean Aileen's got a level head and isn't going to leave just as
things are beginning to get interesting. She's stood it six year and she
can stand it six more if she makes up her mind to it, and I'd ought to
know, seeing as I've lived with her ever since she come to Flamsted."

"To be sure, Tave, to be sure; nobody knows better'n you, 'bout Aileen,
an' I guess she's come to look on you, from all I hear, as her special
piece of property." His brother spoke appeasingly.

Octavius smiled. "Well, I don't deny but she lays claim to me most of
the time; it's 'Octavius' here and 'Octavius' there all day long.
Sometimes Mrs. Champney ruffs up about it, but Aileen has a way of
smoothing her down, generally laughs her out of it. Is that the
Colonel?" He listened to a step on the veranda. "Don't let on 'bout
anything 'twixt Romanzo and Aileen before the Colonel, Joel."

"You don't hev ter say thet to me," said old Quimber resentfully;
"anybody can see through a barn door when thar's a hole in it. All on us
know Mis' Champ