“Sho! . . .  Hum. . . .  Oh, yes, yes; I was goin’ to say she was a mighty nice girl, as nice as she is good-lookin’ and lively.  There’s a dozen young chaps in this county crazy about her this minute, but there ain’t any one of ’em good enough for her. . . .  Hello, you goin’ so soon?  ’Tisn’t half-past nine yet, is it?”

Phillips did not answer.  His somber expression was still in evidence.  Jed would have liked to cheer him up, but he did not know how.  However he made an attempt by changing the subject.

“How is Babbie this mornin’?” he asked.

“She’s as lively as a cricket, of course.  And full of excitement.  She’s going to school next Monday, you know.  You’ll rather miss her about the shop here, won’t you?”

“Miss her!  My land of Goshen!  I shouldn’t be surprised if I follered her to school myself, like Mary’s little lamb.  Miss her!  Don’t talk!”

“Well, so long. . . .  What is it?”

“Eh?”

“What is it you want to say?  You look as if you wanted to say something.”

“Do I? . . .  Hum. . . .  Oh, ’twasn’t anything special. . . .  How’s—­er—­how’s your sister this mornin’?”

“Oh, she’s well.  I haven’t seen her so well since—­that is, for a long time.  You’ve made a great hit with Sis, Jed,” he added, with a laugh.  “She can’t say enough good things about you.  Says you are her one dependable in Orham, or something like that.”

Jed’s face turned a bright red.  “Oh, sho, sho!” he protested, “she mustn’t talk that way.  I haven’t done anything.”

“She says you have.  Well, by-by.”

He went away.  It was some time before Jed resumed his chisel-sharpening.

Later, when he came to reflect upon his conversation with young Phillips there were one or two things about it which puzzled him.  They were still puzzling him when Maud Hunniwell came into the shop.  Maud, in a new fall suit, hat and fur, was a picture, a fact of which she was as well aware as the next person.  Jed, as always, was very glad to see her.

“Well, well!” he exclaimed.  “Talk about angels and—­and they fly in, so to speak.  Real glad to see you, Maud.  Sit down, sit down.  There’s a chair ’round here somewheres.  Now where—?  Oh, yes, I’m sittin’ in it.  Hum!  That’s one of the reasons why I didn’t see it, I presume likely.  You take it and I’ll fetch another from the kitchen.  No, I won’t, I’ll sit on the bench. . . .  Hum . . . has your pa got any money left in that bank of his?”

Miss Hunniwell was, naturally, surprised at the question.

“Why, I hope so,” she said.  “Did you think he hadn’t?”

“W-e-e-ll, I didn’t know.  That dress of yours, and that new bonnet, must have used up consider’ble, to say nothin’ of that woodchuck you’ve got ’round your neck.  ’Tis a woodchuck, ain’t it?” he added, solemnly.

“Woodchuck!  Well, I like that!  If you knew what a silver fox costs and how long I had to coax before I got this one you would be more careful in your language,” she declared, with a toss of her head.