The Winslow knee was clasped between the Winslow hands and the Winslow foot was swinging.  Jed nodded again.

“I see, Charlie,” he said.

“And—­and here I am.  The smash has come, in a way, already.  Babbitt, so Ruth tells me, knows the whole story and was threatening to tell, but she says Grover assures her that he won’t tell, that he, the major, has a club over the old fellow which will prevent his telling.  Do you think that’s true?”

“I shouldn’t be surprised.  Major Grover sartinly did seem to put the fear of the Lord into Phin this afternoon. . . .  And that’s no one-horse miracle,” he drawled, “when you consider that all the ministers in Orham haven’t been able to do it for forty odd years. . . .  Um. . . .  Yes, I kind of cal’late Phin’ll keep his hatches shut.  He may bust his b’iler and blow up with spite, but he won’t talk about you, Charlie, I honestly believe.  And we can all thank the major for that.”

“I shall thank him, for one!”

“Mercy on us!  No, no.  He doesn’t know your story at all.  He just thinks Babbitt was circulatin’ lies about Ruth—­about your sister.  You mustn’t mention the Middleford—­er—­mess to Major Grover.”

“Humph!  Well, unless I’m greatly mistaken, Ruth—­”

“Eh?  Ruth—­what?”

“Oh, nothing.  Never mind that now.  And allowing that Babbitt will, as you say, keep his mouth shut, admitting that the situation is just what it was before Captain Hunniwell lost the money or Babbitt came into the affair at all, still I’ve made up my mind that things can’t go on as they are.  Jed, I—­it’s a mighty hard thing to say to another man, but—­the world—­my world—­just begins and ends with—­with her.”

His fists clenched and his jaw set as he said it.  Jed bowed his head.

“With Maud, you mean,” he said.

“Yes.  I—­I don’t care for anything else or anybody else. . . .  Oh, of course I don’t mean just that, you know.  I do care for Sis and Babbie.  But—­they’re different.”

“I understand, Charlie.”

“No, you don’t.  How can you?  Nobody can understand, least of all a set old crank like you, Jed, and a confirmed bachelor besides.  Beg pardon for contradicting you, but you don’t understand, you can’t.”

Jed gazed soberly at the floor.

“Maybe I can understand a little, Charlie,” he drawled gently.

“Well, all right.  Let it go at that.  The fact is that I’m at a crisis.”

“Just a half minute, now.  Have you said anything to Maud about—­ about how you feel?”

“Of course I haven’t,” indignantly.  “How could I, without telling her everything?”

“That’s right, that’s right.  Course you couldn’t, and be fair and honorable. . . .  Hum. . . .  Then you don’t know whether or not she—­er—­feels the same way about—­about you?”

Charles hesitated.  “No-o,” he hesitated.  “No, I don’t know, of course.  But I—­I feel—­I—­”