“Do you suppose one of those boys could have been perched in the big maple?” she inquired, faintly. “I shot in the air!”
There was a great rushing about and the woman and girl finally went outside with a lantern. The light bobbed about under the maple and around the house, but no white, stricken face was illuminated by the rays; they heard no other cries, no moans; and except for the rustle of the fallen leaves they trod upon there was no sound. Gradually recovering herself in the chill air Keturah strode indoors, Mermaid following her. Miss Smiley, as her fright left her, became more and more indignant.
“It’s that Dick Hand’s boy,” she commented. “Always up to mischief, like his father. A bad lot, the Hands, all except Hosea, who’s a fool.”
At this mention of her Uncle Ho Mermaid pricked up her ears. Miss Smiley was in a talkative mood, seeking relief from her vexation. The girl could not refrain from asking, “Is Uncle Ho a fool?”
“Yes, he is, to have let his brother cheat him out of his rightful property all these years,” Keturah Smiley told her.
Mermaid felt a pang.
“Uncle Ho is awfully good to me,” she said, sadly. “I can’t have anything to do with Dick if his father cheated Uncle Ho.”
Keturah gave her a curious look.
“Don’t make other folks’ quarrels your quarrels, Mary,” she observed. “And while ‘the boy is father to the man,’ Dick Hand’s boy may be a better man than his father.”
“I won’t be friends with Dick if his father cheated Uncle Ho,” the girl persisted.