ome, but she was not shrewd enough to be sensible. She appeared to
have developed only the capacity to talk, to pry, and to worry people.
She was unable to rest or to permit others to rest, yet her aversion to
any useful form of activity was her chief characteristic. Wherever she
went she took the ground that she was "company," and with a shawl
hanging over her sharp, angular shoulders, she would seize upon the
most comfortable rocking chair in the house, and mouse for bits of news
about everyone of whom she had ever heard. She was quite as ready to
tell all she knew also, and for the sake of her budget of gossip and
small scandal, her female relatives tolerated her after a fashion for a
time; but she had been around so often, and her scheme of obtaining
subsistence for herself and child had become so offensively apparent,
that she had about exhausted the patience of all the kith and kin on
whom she had the remotest claim. Her presence was all the more
unwelcome by reason of the faculty for irritating the men of the
various households which she invaded. Even the most phlegmatic or the
best-natured lost their self-control, and as their wives declared,
"felt like flying all to pieces" at her incessant rocking, gossiping,
questioning, and, what was worse still, lecturing. Not the least
endurable thing about Mrs. Mumpson was her peculiar phase of piety.
She saw the delinquencies and duties of others with such painful
distinctness that she felt compelled to speak of them; and her zeal was
sure to be instant out of season.

When Mr. Weeks had started on his ominous mission to Holcroft his wife
remarked to her daughter confidentially, "I declare, sis, if we don't
get rid of Cynthy soon, I believe Lemuel will fly off the handle."

To avoid any such dire catastrophe, it was hoped and almost prayed in
the Weeks household that the lonely occupant of the hill farm would
take the widow for good and all.

Chapter III.

Mrs. Mumpson Negotiates and Yields

Mr. Weeks, on his return home, dropped all diplomacy in dealing with
the question at issue. "Cynthy," he said in his own vernacular, "the
end has come, so far as me and my folks are concerned--I never expect
to visit you, and while I'm master of the house, no more visits will be
received. But I haint taken any such stand onconsiderately," he
concluded. "I've given up the whole forenoon to secure you a better
chance of living than visiting around. If you go to Holcrof