“Do you know how him and the judge are getting along now?”

“First rate, I believe.  Mrs. Pratt says so; and being right in the house, and sister to the one and aunt to t’other, of course she ought to know.  She says the judge is real fond of him when he’s away; but frets when he’s around and is vexed with his ways, and not sorry to have him go again.  He has been gone three weeks this time—­a pleasant thing for both of them, I reckon.”

“Tom’s rather harum-scarum, but there ain’t anything bad in him, I guess.”

“Oh, no, he’s just young, that’s all.  Still, twenty-three is old, in one way.  A young man ought to be earning his living by that time.  If Tom were doing that, or was even trying to do it, the judge would be a heap better satisfied with him.  Tom’s always going to begin, but somehow he can’t seem to find just the opening he likes.”

“Well, now, it’s partly the judge’s own fault.  Promising the boy his property wasn’t the way to set him to earning a fortune of his own.  But what do you think is Roweny beginning to lean any toward him, or ain’t she?”

Aunt Patsy had a secret in her bosom; she wanted to keep it there, but nature was too strong for her.  She drew Aunt Betsy aside, and said in her most confidential and mysterious manner: 

“Don’t you breathe a syllable to a soul—­I’m going to tell you something.  In my opinion Tom Driscoll’s chances were considerable better yesterday than they are to-day.”

“Patsy Cooper, what do you mean?”

“It’s so, as sure as you’re born.  I wish you could ‘a’ been at breakfast and seen for yourself.”

“You don’t mean it!”

“Well, if I’m any judge, there’s a leaning—­there’s a leaning, sure.”

“My land!  Which one of ’em is it?”

“I can’t say for certain, but I think it’s the youngest one—­Anjy.”

Then there were hand-shakings, and congratulations, and hopes, and so on, and the old ladies parted, perfectly happy—­the one in knowing something which the rest of the town didn’t, and the other in having been the sole person able to furnish that knowledge.

The visitor who had called to see the twins was the Rev. Mr. Hotchkiss, pastor of the Baptist church.  At the reception Angelo had told him he had lately experienced a change in his religious views, and was now desirous of becoming a Baptist, and would immediately join Mr. Hotchkiss’s church.  There was no time to say more, and the brief talk ended at that point.  The minister was much gratified, and had dropped in for a moment now, to invite the twins to attend his Bible class at eight that evening.  Angelo accepted, and was expecting Luigi to decline, but he did not, because he knew that the Bible class and the Freethinkers met in the same room, and he wanted to treat his brother to the embarrassment of being caught in free-thinking company.

CHAPTER V