Part 16 (2/2)

sent, after all; eh?”

Jed stared at him. Before the lady could reply he spoke. ”What?”

he cried. ”Was she--Sam Hunniwell, was it HER you was goin' to send to see about hirin' this house?”

”Sure it was. Why not?”

Jed pointed toward the door. ”Then--then who,” he demanded, ”sent those Powlesses here?”

”No one that I know of. And anyhow they don't want to rent any houses. They've bought land over at Harnissport and they're goin'

to build a house of their own there.”

”They are? They are? Then--then WHAT did that woman say I'd got to show her the inside of this house for?”

”I don't know. Did she? Oh, I tell you what she was after, probably. Some one had told her about your old furniture and things, Jed. She's the greatest antique hunter on earth, so they tell me. That's what she was after--antiques.”

Jed, having paused until this had sunk in, groaned.

”Lord!” he said, again. ”And I went and--”

Another groan finished the sentence.

Mrs. Armstrong came forward.

”Please don't worry about it, Mr. Winslow,” she said. ”I know you didn't mean it. Of course, knowing your feelings, I shouldn't think of taking the house.”

But Jed slowly shook his head.

”I want you to,” he declared. ”Yes, I mean it. I want you to come and live in this house for a month, anyhow. If you don't, that Powless woman will come back and buy every stick and rag on the place. I don't want to sell 'em, but I couldn't say no to her any more than I could to the Old Harry. I called her the Old Scratch's wife, didn't I,” he added. ”Well, I won't take it back.”

Captain Sam laughed uproariously.

”You ain't very complimentary to Mr. Powless,” he observed.

Jed rubbed his chin.

”I would be if I was referrin' to him,” he drawled, ”but I judge he's her second husband.”

CHAPTER VI

Of course Mrs. Armstrong still insisted that, knowing, as she did, Mr. Winslow's prejudice against occupying the position of landlord, she could not think of accepting his offer. ”Of course I shall not,” she declared. ”I am flattered to know that you consider Barbara and me preferable to Mr. and Mrs. Powless; but even there you may be mistaken, and, beside, why should you feel you must endure the lesser evil. If I were in your place I shouldn't endure any evil at all. I should keep the house closed and empty, just as you have been doing.”

Captain Sam shook his head impatiently. ”If you was in his place,”

he observed, ”you would have let it every year. Don't interfere with him, Mrs. Armstrong, for the land sakes. He's showed the first streak of common sense about that house that he's showed since the Davidsons went out. Don't ask him to take it back.”

And Jed stubbornly refused to take it back. ”I've let it to you for a month, ma'am,” he insisted. ”It's yours, furniture and all, for a month. You won't sell that Mrs. Powless any of it, will you?” he added, anxiously. ”Any of the furniture, I mean.”

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