a plate of frosted
doughnuts, and bade Douglas "draw up an' have a bite." When her
visitor had been served, she sat down on a chair by the side of the
table.

"Ye seem surprised that I know about that racket at the hall," she
began. "Empty was watchin' at the door, an' saw it all. He was
hustlin' home by the short-cut across the hills to tell me the news
when he heard Jean singin'. Say, I admire ye'r pluck. But ye must be
keerful, sir."

"Why?"

"It's always necessary to be keerful when ye'r dealin' with skunks. Ye
jist never know what they're goin' to do next."

"But why do the people put up with such creatures?" Douglas laughingly
enquired.

"Because they can't get rid of 'em, that's why. Me an' Empty have
always stood on our indignity, an' it's a mighty good stool to stand
on. We don't have to depend on the Stubbles fer a livin'. We have our
little farm, our cow, pig, an' hens. Empty ketches enough fish to do
us, an' he always gits a deer or two in the fall, an' that is all the
meat we want. We pick an' sell a good many berries, an' what eggs an'
butter we kin spare. Mark my words, there's somethin' wrong with a
place when all the people have to bow down to any one man, 'specially
when it's a critter like Si Stubbles. I git terribly irritated when I
think of the way that man is allowed to rule this parish."

"He rules in Church matters, too, I understand," Douglas remarked.

"Ye've hit the nail right on the head, sir. It was him that druv our
last two parsons out of the parish an' almost out of their minds, too."

"Did all side with Mr. Stubbles?"

"Oh, no, not all. There were a few who stood at his back, sich as the
Bentons, an' me an' Empty. Nellie Strong, God bless her, an' Nan, her
sister, didn't go agin 'em, but they were in a difficult persition with
that cranky father of theirs."

"Would Church matters have gone on smoothly but for the Stubbles?"
Douglas asked.

"They always did before Si an' his brood came to this place. Even
supposin' the parsons weren't up to the mark, we would have got along
all right. Country people, as a rule, are not hard to please, an' will
put up with most anythin'."

There were many questions Douglas wished to ask this entertaining
woman, but just then a noise was heard outside, and at once the door
was pushed open and the shoe-maker entered. His hat was gone, his
clothes were torn, and his hands and face were bleeding. He stood near
the door tre