"I thought you'd be 'round here 'fore long. Lively times," Sam shouted, but Will made no reply. He met many friends and acquaintances that day who looked curiously at him as he greeted them and hastened by. He had no inclination for idle talk, nor time; there being so much serious work to be done, and only a day for its accomplishment, as it was necessary for him to return to the city that night.
When Will walked into Mr. George's office that morning, that gentleman had not fully recovered from the effects of Mrs. Stout's visit of the night before. And when Will had concluded his remarks he felt about as mean and frightened as a narrow-minded man can feel.
Will called next on the other members of the school committee, the editor of the local paper, in which much had been insinuated concerning Barbara, and the deacons of his father's church. At noon he returned to Mrs. Stout's, and when Barbara asked him where he had been, smilingly replied, "Calling on our friends."
In the afternoon Will gave his time and attention to the prominent ladies of the town,—Mrs. Tweedie, Mrs. Blake, Mrs. Jones, Mrs. Darling, and several others. He was extremely courteous to the ladies, but when he had finished, many of them knew what he would have said, and how he would have said it, if they had happened to be men.
Toward night, when on his way back to Mrs. Stout's, Will stopped again at the parsonage, and found it, as in the morning, apparently deserted, and concluded that his father had gone away for the day, perhaps to join his mother.
"Well," said Mrs. Stout as she opened the door for him, "feel any better?"
"Yes; but I doubt if I've done Barbara any good," he replied.
"It's satisfyin', though, to tell folks what you think of 'em," chuckled Mrs. Stout.
Will laughed, and went to meet Barbara.
"Been scolding all the afternoon?" she asked.