the time. She 'lows she's
glad she kem--_so glad_ she hev lef Abs'lom fur good an' all--an' then
she busts out a-cryin' agin. I ain't able ter argufy on sech."

"Shucks! wimmen air always a-cryin', an' they don't mean _nuthin'_ by
it," exclaimed the old man, in the plenitude of his wisdom. "It air jes'
one o' thar most contrarious ways. I hev seen 'em set down an' cry fur
joy an' pleasure."

But Steve was doubtful. "It be a powerful low-sperited gift fur them ez
hev ter 'bide along of 'em. Eveliny never useter be tearful in nowise.
Now she cries a heap mo' 'n that thar shoat"--his lips curled in
contempt as he glanced toward the door, through which was visible a
small rotund figure in pink calico, seated upon the lowest log of the
wood-pile--"ez she fotched down hyar with her. _He_ never hev hed a
reg'lar blate but two or three times sence he hev been hyar, an' them
war when that thar old tur-rkey gobbler teetered up ter him an' tuk
his corn-dodger that he war a-eatin' on plumb out'n his hand. _He_ hed
suthin' to holler fur--hed los' his breakfus."

"Don't he 'pear ter you-uns to be powerful peeg-eon-toed?" asked Tim,
anxiously, turning to his father.

"The gawbbler?" faltered the amazed old man.

"Naw; him, _him--Kittredge_," said Tim, jerking his big thumb in the
direction of the small boy.

"Law-dy Gawd A'mighty! _naw! naw!_" The grandfather indignantly
repudiated the imputation of the infirmity. One would have imagined that
he would deem it meet that a Kittredge should be pigeon-toed. "It's jes
the way _all_ babies hev got a-walkin'; he ain't right handy yit with
his feet--jes a-beginnin' ter walk, an' sech. Peegeon-toed! I say it, ye
fool!" He cast a glance of contempt on his eldest-born, and arrogantly
puffed his pipe.

Again Joe Boyd came, and yet again. He brought messages contrite and
promissory from Absalom; he brought commands stern and insistent. He
came into the house at last, and sat and talked at the fireside in
the presence of the men of the family, who bore themselves in a manner
calculated to impress the Kittredge emissary with their triumph and
contempt for his mission, although they studiously kept silence, leaving
it to Evelina to answer.

At last the old man, leaning forward, tapped Joe on the knee. "See hyar,
Joe. Ye hev always been a good frien' o' mine. This hyar man he stole
my darter from me, an' whenst she wanted ter be frien's, an' not let her
old dad die unforgiving he wouldn't l