Part 10 (1/2)
Of course, Sophia was the speaker.
”How much did you give the man you had before me?” asked Andy, shrewdly.
”Twenty-five dollars a month and board.”
”That'll suit me,” said Andy, audaciously.
At the farmer's for whom he had been working he had received board and a dollar a week.
”But you are a boy. Men folks get more than boys.”
”I'll do as much work as he did any day,” said Andy, stoutly.
”I really don't know what to say. I think we'll give you five dollars the first week, and then we will decide about the future.”
”Just so,” said Sophia.
”I'm to eat here?” inquired Andy.
”Yes, you will make your home here. We will put you in John's room.”
”When shall I begin?”
”We shall need some wood split at once.”
”All right, ma'am; but it's dinner time. I'll just go home and get a bite to keep up my strength.”
”You can have your dinner here. It will be ready in half an hour.”
”Just so.”
”All right,” said Andy; ”I'm agreeable.”
”Do you live in the village?”
”I do now. My mother lives up the road a bit.”
”Very well. Go and split some wood, and we'll call you in to dinner.
You'll find the ax and the saw in the shed.”
Andy found the articles referred to, and straight-way went to work. He was really a ”smart boy to work,” as the phrase is, and he went to work with a will. He was greatly elated at having secured so profitable a job. He meant to give satisfaction, so as to keep it.
Five dollars a week and board seemed to him a magnificent income, and compared very favorably with his wages at Farmer Belknap's, where he had been working all summer.
”It's lucky I came here,” he said to himself, as he plied the saw energetically; ”but what queer old ladies they are, especially the one that's always sayin' 'just so.' If I'd tell her I'd got fifty-seven grand-children I'll bet she'd say, 'Just so.'”
Miss Sophia was looking out of the back window to see how their new ”man” worked. Occasionally Priscilla, as she was setting the table, glanced out of the window in pa.s.sing.
”He takes hold as if he knew how,” she observed.
”Just so,” responded her sister.