meet him, and Jed
would not be needed any more, nor Barlow.

Jed's heart began to trouble him, in spite of the boiled corn.

"Oh, it's all right, Jedediah! You needn't feel bad about it. I've fixed
a night's lodgin' for ye with Widder Simmons, right across the road
there. She's to have a shillin' for it, and you can keep the other
three, and go home in the mornin'. Here they are."

That was liberal, considering that Jed had driven the cow little more
than half way to Topham, and Jed's face was bright again instantly.

The Deacon had a good deal more to say to him, but before long he, and
his son, and the loaded team, and the cow disappeared in a cloud of dust
up the north road.

For the first time in his life Jed felt lonely. The Deacon had taken him
over and introduced him to Mrs. Simmons, and nobody could be blamed for
feeling lonely in the same room with her. Jed could not remember seeing
a smile on the face of Deacon Giddings, but then he had talked, and
there was fun in him somewhere, and he had paid him his four shillings
like a man. The Widow Simmons did not talk and she did not smile, and
she looked at Jed through her silver-rimmed spectacles in a way that
made him feel more and more alone in the world every minute.

Barlow had looked in her face just once, and then he had gone out in
front of the house, and laid down in the grass.

Nearly an hour went by, or it seemed so to Jed, before he mustered
courage to say, "May I go out, ma'am, and walk around a little?"

"Hain't ye walked fur enough for one day? I wonder your mother ever let
sech a mite of a thing go a-cattle-drovin'. Well, go 'long. Only don't
you be late for supper. You won't git a bite if you be."

Jed was out of the house in a twinkling, with his hand on the pocket
which contained his four shillings.

"Barlow, come here."

It was no use to say, "Come here," for Barlow was travelling down the
home road as fast as his short legs could carry him. When he reached
what he may have thought a safe distance, he sat down and barked back.
It was his turn to say, "Come here," and Jed understood it.

"It's only seven miles home, and no cow. What's the use of my staying
here?"

It was plain enough that Jed was thinking again, and he was counting
those four bits of silver coin over and over. There would be only three
of them left if he staid all night at Mrs. Simmons's. Two packs of
crackers gone, at six and a quarter cents a pack.

"I'd have to