lkin', with all the ways and manners that take women in. Em'ly
Crawford used to say it made her feel like a queen jest to see Dick
take his hat off to her. If men's manners matched their hearts, honey,
this'd be a heap easier world for women. But whenever you see a man
that's got good manners and a bad heart, you may know there's trouble
ahead for some woman.

"Well, us women talked it over till dark come; and I reckon if we had
app'inted a committee to look after Milly and Dick, somethin' might
have been done. But everybody's business is nobody's business, and I
thought Sally Ann would go to Milly and give her a word o' warnin',
and Sally Ann thought I'd do it, and so it went, and nothin' was said
or done at last; and before long it was all over the neighborhood that
pore little Milly was in trouble."

Aunt Jane paused, took off her glasses and wiped them carefully on a
corner of her gingham apron.

"Many's the time," she said slowly, "that I've laid awake till the
chickens crowed, blamin' myself and wonderin' how far I was
responsible for Milly's mishap. I've lived a long time since then, and
I don't worry any more about such things. There's some things that's
got to be; and when a person is all wore out tryin' to find out why
this thing happened and why that thing didn't happen, he can jest
throw himself back on the eternal decrees, and it's like layin' down
on a good soft feather bed after you've done a hard day's work. The
preachers'll tell you that every man is his brother's keeper, but
'tain't so. I ain't my brother's keeper, nor my sister's, neither.
There's jest one person I've got to keep, and that's myself.

"The Bible says, 'A word spoken in due season, how good it is!' But
when folks is in love there ain't any due season for speakin' warnin'
words to 'em. There was Emmeline Amos: her father told her if she
married Hal, he'd cut her name out o' the family Bible and leave her
clear out o' his will. But that didn't hinder her. She went right on
and married him, and lived to rue the day she did it. No, child,
there's mighty little salvation by words for folks that's in love. I
reckon if a word from me would 'a' saved Milly, the word would 'a'
been given to me, and the season too, and as they wasn't, why I hadn't
any call to blame myself.

"Abram and Sam Crawford did try to talk to Old Man Bob; but, la! you
might as well 'a' talked to the east wind. All he said was, 'If Annie
wants Dick Elrod, Annie shall