“Where did—­” asked Mrs. Lathrop eagerly.

“Come up in the well-bucket,” replied Miss Clegg promptly,—­“she come up in the well-bucket this afternoon all but her tail, ‘n’ they think Augustus must ‘a’ strained that throwin’ her in by it ‘n’ so it soaked off extra easy.  Mrs. Craig went for him the minute she see the cat, but, lor’, you can’t get nothin’ out o’ Augustus; he jus’ said, ’Wash zhat?—­Zhat a cat?—­Zhi a cat?—­Zhu a cat?’ ‘n’ Mrs. Craig was too mad f’r words.  She says ‘t they’ve been noticin’ a curious taste in the water, but not bein’ in the habit o’ drinkin’ the house cat, they never thought of its bein’ him.  She’s troubled over findin’ the cat ‘n’ troubled some more over not findin’ the tail.  She says Mr. Craig says ‘t he wouldn’t consider for one second cleanin’ out a well for a trifle like a cat’s tail, ‘n’ yet, for her part, she ain’t noways inclined to keep on livin’ on cat’s hairs indefinitely.  She says ’t Mr. Craig says ’t she can easy fish the tail up with the well-bucket, but fishin’ for suthin’ ’s you can’t see ain’t so funny as a woman’s husband ’s apt to make out.  ’S far ’s my observation ’s ’xtended, a man always gives his wife to understand that what’d be a bother or mebbe impossible for him to do ‘ll be jus’ a pleasant afternoon for her.  I took it on myself to tell her that very same thing.  ’Let him fish that tail himself for a day or two,’ I says; ’about the six hundred an’ fortieth time ’t he winds up that bucket ‘n’ finds himself still short o’ that tail I’ll venture my guess ’t he won’t find the joke ’s fine ‘s he did at first.’  But she was too used up to know when she was havin’ good common-sense talked to her; she jus’ kep’ wipin’ her eyes, ‘n’ then Mrs. Sperrit drove up ‘n’ the whole rigmarole had to be gone over again for her.  I mus’ say that she behaved kind of un-neighborly, f’r she laughed fit to kill herself, ‘n’ Mrs. Craig was nigh to put out over such doin’s,—­’n’ the cat not dead a week yet; but when Mrs. Sperrit got through laughin’ she made up f’r it all, for she said if Mrs. Craig was willin’ she’d take Augustus home with her.  Mrs. Craig couldn’t believe she was in earnest at first, ‘n’ then she wept again with sheer joy.  ‘N’ what do you think ’t Mrs. Sperrit did?—­Took Augustus straight across to Mr. Shores ‘n’ bought a dog-collar ‘n’ a chain for him ‘n’ buckled it on right then and there.  ‘I’ll engage he don’t throw no cats down no wells out on the farm,’ she says, ‘n’ then off she drove with the youngster sittin’ up beside her prim ’s a poodle.”

“Did you hear—­” asked Mrs. Lathrop, chewing pleasantly.

“I see Mrs. Brown,” Susan continued calmly,—­“she was down in the square.  Seems ’t young Dr. Brown didn’t get to observe Henry Ward Beecher like he expected.  He ‘n’ Amelia went over to Meadville, ‘n’ mebbe they’ll go on to the city from there, f’r his practice is spreadin’ so ’t he’s got to buy a bigger borin’-machine, ‘n’ he wants a lot more bastin’ thread an’ needles.