ney's a-breakin'; they do say she's hed a shock,
leastwise I heerd so, an' Aileen'll look out for A No. 1. I ain't lived
to be most eighty in Flamsted for nothin', an' I've seen an' heerd
more'n I've ever told, Tave; more'n even you know 'bout some things. You
don't remember the time old Square Googe took Aurory inter his home to
bring up an' Judge Champney said he was sorry he'd got ahead of him for
he wanted to adopt her for a daughter himself; them's his words; I heerd
him. An' I can tell more'n--"

"Shut up, Quimber," said Octavius shortly; and Joel Quimber "shut up,"
but, winking knowingly at Augustus Buzzby, continued to chuckle to
himself till the Colonel entered who, beginning to expatiate upon the
subject of Champney Googe's prospects when he should have returned to
the home-welcome awaiting him, was happily interrupted by the
announcement of that young man's unexpected arrival on the evening
train.

II

Champney Googe was beginning to realize, as he stood on the porch with
his mother and waved to his old neighbors, the Caukinses, the changed
conditions he was about to face. He was also realizing that he must
change to meet these conditions. On his way up from the train Saturday
evening, he noted the power house at The Corners and the substantial
line of comfortable cottages that extended for a mile along the highroad
to the entrance of the village. He found Main Street brilliant with
electric lights and lined nearly its entire length with shops, large and
small, which were thronged with week-end purchasers. An Italian fruit
store near The Greenbush bore the proprietor's name, Luigi Poggi; as he
drove past he saw an old Italian woman bargaining with smiles and lively
gestures over the open counter. Farther on, from an improvised wooden
booth, the raucous voice of the phonograph was jarring the night air and
entertaining a motley group gathered in front of it. Across the street a
flaunting poster announced "Moving Picture Show for a Nickel." Vehicles
of all descriptions, from a Maine "jigger" to a "top buggy," were
stationary along the village thoroughfare, their various steeds hitched
to every available stone post. In front of the rectory some Italian
children were dancing to the jingle of a tambourine.

On nearing The Bow the confusion ceased; the polyglot sounds were
distinguishable only as a murmur. In passing Champ-au-Haut, he looked
up at the house; here and there a light shone behind drawn shades. S