“Lord!” he exclaimed, with fervor.  Mrs. Armstrong looked at him in amazement.

“Why, Mr. Winslow!” she exclaimed, and burst out laughing.

Jed groaned.  “I know how Jonah felt after the whale unloaded him,” he drawled.  “That woman all but had me swallered.  If you hadn’t been here she would.”

“Jed!” shouted a voice outside.  “Jed, where are you?”

Mr. Winslow raised his head.  “Eh?” he queried.  “That’s Sam hollerin’, ain’t it?”

It was Captain Hunniwell and a moment later he entered the little sitting-room.  When he saw who his friend’s companions were he seemed greatly surprised.

“Why, Mrs. Armstrong!” he exclaimed.  “Are you here?  Now that’s a funny thing.  The last time I saw Jed I warned him I was goin’ to send you here to look at this house.  And you came without bein’ sent, after all; eh?”

Jed stared at him.  Before the lady could reply he spoke.  “What?” he cried.  “Was she—­Sam Hunniwell, was it her you was goin’ to send to see about hirin’ this house?”

“Sure it was.  Why not?”

Jed pointed toward the door.  “Then—­then who,” he demanded, “sent those Powlesses here?”

“No one that I know of.  And anyhow they don’t want to rent any houses.  They’ve bought land over at Harnissport and they’re goin’ to build a house of their own there.”

“They are?  They are?  Then—­then what did that woman say I’d got to show her the inside of this house for?”

“I don’t know.  Did she?  Oh, I tell you what she was after, probably.  Some one had told her about your old furniture and things, Jed.  She’s the greatest antique hunter on earth, so they tell me.  That’s what she was after—­antiques.”

Jed, having paused until this had sunk in, groaned.

“Lord!” he said, again.  “And I went and—­”

Another groan finished the sentence.

Mrs. Armstrong came forward.

“Please don’t worry about it, Mr. Winslow,” she said.  “I know you didn’t mean it.  Of course, knowing your feelings, I shouldn’t think of taking the house.”

But Jed slowly shook his head.

“I want you to,” he declared.  “Yes, I mean it.  I want you to come and live in this house for a month, anyhow.  If you don’t, that Powless woman will come back and buy every stick and rag on the place.  I don’t want to sell ’em, but I couldn’t say no to her any more than I could to the Old Harry.  I called her the Old Scratch’s wife, didn’t I,” he added.  “Well, I won’t take it back.”

Captain Sam laughed uproariously.

“You ain’t very complimentary to Mr. Powless,” he observed.

Jed rubbed his chin.

“I would be if I was referrin’ to him,” he drawled, “but I judge he’s her second husband.”

CHAPTER VI