deal. Sometimes he'd come to our
house an' wait fer Ol' Swallertail to come home, an' they'd send me
away an' tell me not to come back till I was called. That made me
mighty curious to see what they was up to, so one day I crep' up behind
the house an' peeked in the winder. They wasn't in the kitchen, so I
went aroun' an' peeked through the winder o' Gran'dad's room, an' there
they both sot, an' Gran'dad was countin' out money on the table. It
must 'a' be'n gold money, 'cause it was yaller an' bigger ner cents er
nickels. Ned put it all in his pocket, an' writ somethin' on a paper
that Gran'dad put inter his big pocketbook. Then they both got up an' I
made a run fer it an' hid behind the barn."

"When did that happen?" asked Josie.

"The first summer Ann was married. That was three summers ago, countin'
this one. I was only a kid, then," said Ingua, as if realizing she was
now two years older.

"And after that?" said Josie.

"Las' summer it was jes' the same. The two was thicker'n gumdrops, only
Ned didn't go to the office no more. He allus came to our house instid.
One day, when he was waitin' fer Ol' Swallertail, he says to me:
'Ingua, how'd ye like to be rollin' in money, an' Jive in a big city,
an' hev yer own automobile to ride in, an' dress like a queen?'

"'I'd like it,' says I.

"'Well,' says he,' it's boun' to happen, if Ol' Swallertail sticks to
me an' does what I say. He's got the capital,' says Ned, 'an' I got the
brains; an' atween the two of us, Ingua,' says Ned, 'we'll corral half
the money there is in America.'

"'Will he stick?' says I.

"'I dunno,' says Ned. 'He's got queer ideas 'bout duty an' honesty that
ain't pop'lar these days in business. But I'm gitt'n so now thet I kin
lead him by the nose, an' I'll force him to waller in money afore I've
done with him.'

"'I don't see how that'll make me rollin' in money, anyhow,' I told
him.

"'The ol' man'll die, pretty soon,' says Ned, 'an' then you'll git the
money I make for him. By the time yer growed up, if not afore,' says
he, 'you may be the riches' girl in the world. It all depends on how I
kin bend that ol' stick of a gran'dad o' yourn.'

"That was the day he gimme the dollar, an' Gran'dad come in in time to
see it, an' took it away from me. It didn't set me up any, that talk o'
Ned's, 'cause I didn't believe in them brains he bragged on, or his
bein' able to lead Ol' Swallertail by the nose. Gran'dad begun gittin'
kind o' harsh with