cried Ruth, in some passion. "You have
kept his house for him, and mended for him, and made a home for him, for
years. And I doubt if he has ever thanked you--not _once_!"

"But I have thanked him, deary," said Aunt Alvirah, sweetly. "And I do
thank him, same as I do our Father in Heaven, ev'ry day of my life, for
takin' me away from that poorfarm an' makin' an independent woman of me
a'gin. Oh, Jabez ain't all bad. Fur from it, my pretty--fur from it!

"Now that you ain't no more beholden to him for your eddication, an' all,
he is more pennyurious than ever--yes he is! For Jabez's sake, I could
almost wish you hadn't got all that money you did, for gittin' back the
lady's necklace. Spendin' money breeds the itch for spendin' more. Since
you wrote him that you was goin' to pay all your school bills, Jabez
Potter is cured of the little itch of _that_ kind he ever had."

"Oh, Aunt Alvirah! Think of me--I am glad to be independent, too."

"I know--I know," admitted Aunt Alvirah. "But it's hard on Jabez. He was
givin' you the best eddication he could----"

"Grumblingly enough, I am sure!" interposed Ruth, with a pout. She could
speak plainly to the little old woman, for Aunt Alvirah _knew_.

"Surely--surely," agreed the old lady. "But it did him good, jest the
same. Even if he only spent money on ye for fear of what the neighbors
would say. Opening his pocket for _your_ needs, my pretty, was makin' a
new man of Jabez."

"Dear me!" exclaimed Ruth, thinking it rather hard. "You want me to be
poor again, Aunt Alvirah."

"Only for your uncle's sake--only for his sake," she reiterated.

"But he can do more for Mercy Curtis," said Ruth. "He has helped her quite
a little. He likes Mercy--better than he does me, I think."

"But he don't have to help Mercy no more," put in Aunt Alvirah, quickly.
"Haven't you heard? Mercy's mother has got a legacy from some distant
relative and now there ain't a soul on whom Jabez Potter thinks he's _got_
to spend money. It's a terrible thing for Jabez--Meed an' it is, my
pretty.

"Changes--changes, all the time! We were going on quite smooth and
pleasant for a fac'. And _now_----Oh, my back! and oh, my bones!" and thus
groaningly Aunt Alvirah finished her quite unusual complaint, for with all
her aches and pains she was naturally a cheerful body.

CHAPTER V

"THAT'S A PROMISE"

The family at the Red Mill were early risers When the red, red sun threw
his first rays across the