l in facts over there to the post office?
Ever have occasion to mention facts?"

"Er--not _reg'lar_ facts, Scattergood. You needn't to worry about my
talkin' too free."

"Seems like a feller that talks as much as you do would _have_ to
mention a fact once in a while. G'-by, Pliny."

It was two or three days later that Postmaster Pratt alluded again to
Martha and Jed Lewis.

"They're gittin' wuss and wuss," he said, with some gratification.
"Last night they was a rumpus you could 'a' heard forty mile. Ended up
by him threatenin' to leave her, and by her tellin' him that if he
didn't she'd lock him out of the house. Looks to me like that family
fracas was about ripe to bust."

"Signs all p'int that way, Will. Too bad, hain't it? There's a reason
f'r it, I calculate. Ever look f'r the reason, Will? Ever think about it
at all?"

"Hain't had no time. Post office keeps me thinkin' night and day."

"Well, I _have_. Figgered a heap."

"Any results, Scattergood?"

"Some--_some_."

"What be they?"

Scattergood's eyes twinkled in the darkness. "I got it all figgered
out," he said, "that them young folks needs a dose of soothin' syrup."

"I want to know," said the postmaster, breathlessly and with
bewilderment. "Soothin' syrup! I swan to man!... Hain't been out in the
heat, have you, Scattergood?"

Scattergood made no reply to this question. He merely waggled his head
and said: "G'-by, Will. G'-by."

Next morning Scattergood walked past the Lewis place. He passed it three
times before he made up his mind whether to go in or not, but finally he
turned through the gate and walked around to the kitchen door. Inside he
saw Martha ridding up the kitchen, not with a morning song on her lips,
but wearing a sullen expression which sat ill on her fine New England
face.

"Mornin', Marthy," he called.

She looked up and smiled suddenly. The change in her face was
astonishing.

"Mornin', Mr. Baines. Set right down on the porch. ... Let me fetch you
a hot cup of coffee. 'Twon't take but a minute to make."

"Can't stop," said Scattergood. "I was lookin' for Jed."

"Jed's gone," she replied, shortly, the sullen expression returning to
her face. "'He won't be back 'fore noon."

"Uh-huh!... Wa-al, I calc'late I kin keep on drawin' my breath till
then--if you kin. I call to mind the time when you was all-fired oneasy
if Jed got away from you for six hours in a stretch."

"Them times is gone," she said, shortly.

"Shuck