“Hugh, I decided not to say anything to you about it, because I knew you had laid out something you wanted to do at home this afternoon; but I was resolved to be around the Hosmer shack when the ladies called about three today, and try to learn just how the friendly scheme came out.

“They showed up fine and dandy on time.  I was hidden behind some bushes close by, and no sooner had they passed inside, Mr. Hosmer coming to the door to welcome them, than I found it convenient to creep up still closer.  The window was open, and I could hear the chatter of women’s tongues as they chatted away.  Mr. Hosmer came out and went downtown on some errand; I suspect that, like the wise man he is, he smelled a rat and wanted to leave a clear field to Ma and Mrs. Lund and Miss Carpenter.  Perhaps Mr. Hosmer isn’t just as much in favor of entertaining Brother Lu the rest of his natural life as he may have been in the start, for he must know deep down in his man’s soul that the fellow is only working his sister for his keep.

“Well, anyway, I could hear them talking for a little while, after which who should come out of the house but our former hobo, Brother Lu.  Say, he’s actually wearing Mr. Hosmer’s best suit, would you believe it, and he seems to like to pose as a sort of retired gentleman; it must be nice after getting such a precarious living walking the railway ties, and begging or stealing as he went, to drop down here in a snug nest where he has the best bed, is sure of three meals a day, wears his brother-in-law’s only Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes, and I guess smokes Andrew’s little stock of tobacco in the bargain.”

Thad certainly did manage to put considerable emphasis and scorn into his vivid description of the contemptible actions of the reformed tramp.  Hugh was laughing to himself over his chum’s righteous indignation; nor did he have any doubt but that, given the opportunity, Thad would most heartily have assisted in a little operation calculated to furnish the said Brother Lu with a nice warm coat of down from a pillow, plastered on with a liberal coating of sticky black tar.

“Of course, after he came on the scene, I lost all interest in the folks inside the cottage, and kept watching his antics,” continued Thad, after giving vent to his feelings as he did.  “I couldn’t make out anything that was said, anyway, but it was easy to tell from the way the voices dropped after he came out that the ladies were getting in their work, and trying to show Matilda she had no business to add to her burdens.

“Brother Lu, he acted like a sneak from the Start.  I could see that he was taking it for a big joke, because he was grinning like everything.  I guess he knew what a grip he’d managed to get on his sister, and felt sure not even a dozen ladies of Scranton could cause her to throw him out.

“What did he do but slide around the wall of the house, get down on his hands and knees, and creep right under that open window, where he could hear every word that was said.  What do you think of that for meanness, the skunk; now, it never occurred to me to try that dodge, you know.”