ls in it. I know
Mis' Poteet'll be mad at him. And then in a little while here come
Aunt Amandy to feed the old turkey, and she 'most cried when she found
things so bad all around everywhere. We had runned behind the
corn-crib, but when I saw her begin to kinder cry I comed out. Then
she asked me did I break up her nest she was a-saving to surprise
Uncle Tucker with, and I told her no ma'am I didn't--but I didn't tell
her I was with Tobe climbing into the wagon, and it only happened he
slid down first on the top of the old turkey. It don't _think_ like to
me it was a lie, but it _feels_ like one right here," and Stonie laid
his hand on the pit of his little stomach, which was not far away from
the seat of his pain if the modern usage assigned the solar-plexus be
correct.

"And did Tobe stay still behind the corn-crib and not come out to tell
Aunt Amandy he was sorry he had ruined her turkey nest?" asked Rose
Mary, bent on getting all the facts before offering judgment.

"Yes'm, he did, and now he's mighty sorry, cause Tobe loves Aunt
Amandy as well as being skeered of the devil. He says if it was Aunt
Viney he'd rather the devil would get him right now than tell her, but
if you'll come lend him some of my britches he will come in and tell
Aunt Amandy about it. He's tooken his off and he has to stay in the
corn-crib until I get something for him to put on."

"Of course I'll come get some trousers for Tobe and a clean shirt,
too, and I know Aunt Amanda will be glad to forgive him. Tobe is
always so nice to her and she'll be sorry he's sorry, and then it
will be all right, won't it?" And thus with a woman's usual shrinking
from meeting the question ethical, Rose Mary sought to settle the
matter in hand out of court as it were.

"No, Rose Mamie, I ain't sure about that lie yet," asserted the
General in a somewhat relieved tone of voice, but still a little
uneasy about the moral question involved in the case. "Did I tell it
or not? Do you know, Rose Mamie, or will I have to wait till I go to
God to find out?"

"Stonie, I really don't know," admitted Rose Mary as she drew the
little arguer to her and rested her cheek against the sturdy little
shoulder under the patched gingham shirt. "It was not your business to
tell on Tobe but--but--please, honey-sweet, let's leave it to God,
now. He understands, I'm sure, and some day when you have grown a big
and wise man you'll think it all out. When you do, will you tell Rose
Mam