d forth to tell the great news, that the visitor was expected, and
as she passed the village store, old Mr. Simpkins, in the doorway, was
taking leave of Silas Barnes.

"Yes, sir, he's a great feller, he is. There ain't another as 'riginal as
he is on the globe, I bet ye. He's done a lot er bright things time an'
time 'n again, but this time beats the other times all holler."

"What's he done naow?" asked Barnes.

"Hey?" remarked Mr. Simpkins, with his hand at his ear.

"I say, what's he done _naow_?" roared Barnes.

"Oh, I ain't tellin' yit. Even his brother Joel don't know, an' won't know
this week, but next week the taown will be 'baout wild with the news er
what Timotheus has done. Ye'll be 'bliged ter wait 'til then," said Mr.
Simpkins.

"I guess I'll be able to stand it," remarked Silas Barnes in an undertone.

"Hey? Did ye say ye'd understand it? Wal, I ain't sure whether ye will er
not. It's most too much fer _me_," Mr. Simpkins replied, as he made his
way cautiously down the rickety steps.

"Fer goodness sakes, what's Timotheus been a doin' naow, I wonder,"
muttered Mrs. Hodgkins. "I shan't ask, an' be told ter wait, as Silas
Barnes was.

"I'd like ter know one thing," she continued, "an' that is whether the boy
is 'specially bright as his _father_ thinks, or whether he's a little
lackin' as _I_ think, an' I do'no who's ter decide."

Up the road she trudged, and as she turned the corner, a most surprising
sight caused her to stop and ejaculate. "Land er the livin'! What ails him
naow?"

Timotheus Simpkins, unaware that he was observed, was executing a most
fantastic jig in the middle of the road.

"I've did it naow, I bet ye 'n even Joel 'll have ter admit I'm a sight
bigger'n anybody 'n taown. Good-bye ter farmin' and hooray fer literatoor,
I say."

"Wal, be ye losin' yer senses, er clean gone crazy?" asked Mrs. Hodgkins
in disgust.

Timotheus paused in his wild pirouette, and gave Mrs. Hodgkins a withering
glance.

"It ain't wuth while ter explain Mis' Hodgkins, bein's I don't feel ye'd
be able ter' understand the magnitood er what I've done."

"_Dew tell!_" remarked Mrs. Hodgkins with fine contempt, "I hope the
taown is still big 'nough ter hold ye, _Mr._ Simpkins."

Her irony was wasted, however.

"I'm glad ye reelize the time's come ter 'dress me as 'Mr.,'" remarked
Timotheus, and Mrs. Hodgkins vouchsafed no answer, but hurried along the
road, "afeared ter speak," as she afterward sa