e to that. Amanda Dalton had never had a beau, but she was the
likeliest woman in the village, spite o' that, an' Caleb Kimball was
the onlikeliest man. Amanda was the smartest woman, an' Caleb the
laziest man. He kind o' thought Amanda 'd married Caleb so 't she
could clean house for him; but it seemed an awful high price to pay
for a job. He guessed she couldn't bear to have his everlastin'
whiteweed seedin' itself into her hayfield, an' the only way she could
stop it was to marry him an' weed it out. He thought, too, that Caleb
had kind o' got int' the habit o' watchin' Mandy flyin' about down to
her place. There's nothin' so fascinatin' as to set still an' see
other folks work. The critter was so busy, an' so diff'rent from him,
mebbe it kind o' tantalized him.

The Widow Thatcher was convinced that Mandy must have gone for Caleb
hammer 'n' tongs when he was too weak to hold out against her. No
woman in her sober senses would paper a man's kitchen for him unless
she intended to get some use out of it herself. "We don't know what
the disciples would 'a' done," she said, "nor the apostles, nor the
saints, nor the archangels; we only know what women-folks would 'a'
done, and there ain't one above ground that would 'a' cleaned Caleb
Kimball's house without she expected to live in it."

Susan Benson had a vague instinct with regard to the real facts of the
case, but even she mustered up courage to ask Amanda once how the
wonderful matter came about.

Amanda looked at Mrs. Benson with some embarrassment, for she was not
good at confidences.

"Susan, you an' I've been brought up together, gone to school
together, experienced religion an' joined the church together, an' I
stood up with you an' William when you was married, so 't I'd speak
out freer to you than I would to most."

"I hope so, I'm sure."

"Though I wouldn't want you to repeat anything, Susan."

"'Tain't likely I would, Mandy."

"Well, I'd no sooner got Caleb into a clean bed an' a clean room an'
begun to feed him good food than I begun to like him. There's things
in human hearts that I ain't wise enough to explain, Susan, an' I
ain't goin' to try. Caleb Kimball seemed to me like a man that was
drownin', all because there wa'n't anybody near to put a hand under
his chin an' keep his head out o' water. I didn't suspicion he'd let
me do it! I thought he'd just lie there an' drown, but it didn't turn
out that way."

"Well, it does kind o' seem as if yo