h.' Do you know what he said when I
took him off so he wouldn't put you through the catechism?"

"No," she replied, with a deprecating smile and rising color.

"He said he was 'afeared I'd been taken in, you were such a sickly
lookin' critter.' Ha! Ha! Wish he might see you now, with that
flushed face of yours. I never believed in magic, but I'll have to
come to it. You are bewitched, and are being transformed into a pretty
young girl right under my eyes; the house is bewitched, and is growing
pretty, too, and pleasanter all the time. The cherry and apple trees
are bewitched, for they never blossomed so before; the hens are
bewitched, they lay as if possessed; the--"

"Oh, stop! Or I shall think that you're bewitched yourself."

"I truly begin to think I am."

"Oh, well! Since we all and everything are affected in the same way,
it don't matter."

"But it does. It's unaccountable. I'm beginning to rub my eyes and
pinch myself to wake up."

"If you like it, I wouldn't wake up."

"Suppose I did, and saw Mrs. Mumpson sitting where you do, Jane here,
and Mrs. Wiggins smoking her pipe in the corner. The very thought
makes me shiver. My first words would be, 'Please pass the cold
p'ison.'"

"What nonsense you are talking tonight!" she tried to say severely, but
the pleased, happy look in her eyes betrayed her. He regarded her with
the open admiration of a boy, and she sought to divert his attention by
asking, "What do you think has become of Jane?"

"I don't know--stealing around like a strange cat in some relation's
house, I suppose."

"You once said you would like to do something for her."

"Well, I would. If I could afford it, I'd like to send her to school."

"Would you like her to come here and study lessons part of the time?"

He shivered visibly. "No, Alida, and you wouldn't either. She'd make
you more nervous than she would me, and that's saying a good deal. I
do feel very sorry for her, and if Mrs. Weeks comes to see you, we'll
find out if something can't be done, but her presence would spoil all
our cozy comfort. The fact is, I wouldn't enjoy having anyone here.
You and I are just about company enough. Still, if you feel that you'd
like to have some help--"

"Oh, no! I haven't enough to do."

"But you're always a-doing. Well, if you're content, I haven't
Christian fortitude enough to make any changes."

She smiled and thought that she was more than content. She had begun
to d