him look so longfaced since--since he was paid up on
a sartin note I knows of, jest as he was smackin' his lips over a nice
fat farm that was comin' to him!

"Well, I was that plum puzzled that I meant ter find out why Streeter
was takin' sech notice, if I hung fur it. So I set to on a little
detective work of my own, knowin', of course, that 't wa'n't no use
askin' of him himself. Well, an' what do you s'pose I found out? If
that little scamp of a boy hadn't even got round him--Streeter, the
skinflint! He had--an' he went there often, the neighbors said; an'
Streeter doted on him. They declared that actually he give him a cent
once--though THAT part I ain't swallerin' yet.

"They said--the neighbors did--that it all started from the pear
tree--that big one ter the left of his house. Maybe you remember it.
Well, anyhow, it seems that it's old, an' through bearin' any fruit,
though it still blossoms fit ter kill, every year, only a little late
'most always, an' the blossoms stay on longer'n common, as if they knew
there wa'n't nothin' doin' later. Well, old Streeter said it had got
ter come down. I reckon he suspected it of swipin' some of the
sunshine, or maybe a little rain that belonged ter the tree t'other
side of the road what did bear fruit an' was worth somethin'! Anyhow,
he got his man an' his axe, an' was plum ready ter start in when he
sees David an' David sees him.

"'T was when the boy first come. He'd gone ter walk an' had struck this
pear tree, all in bloom,--an' 'course, YOU know how the boy would
act--a pear tree, bloomin', is a likely sight, I'll own. He danced and
laughed and clapped his hands,--he didn't have his fiddle with
him,--an' carried on like all possessed. Then he sees the man with the
axe, an' Streeter an' Streeter sees him.

"They said it was rich then--Bill Warner heard it all from t'other side
of the fence. He said that David, when he found out what was goin' ter
happen, went clean crazy, an' rampaged on at such a rate that old
Streeter couldn't do nothin' but stand an' stare, until he finally
managed ter growl out: 'But I tell ye, boy, the tree ain't no use no
more!'

"Bill says the boy flew all to pieces then. 'No use--no use!' he cries;
'such a perfectly beautiful thing as that no use! Why, it don't have
ter be any use when it's so pretty. It's jest ter look at an' love, an'
be happy with!' Fancy sayin' that ter old Streeter! I'd like ter seen
his face. But Bill says that wa'n't h