"If it hadn't been for Belle I would not have been there," he explained. "I had a thousand and one things to do when I received her long letter. But she has had me under her thumb for so long that I dropped everything and meekly obeyed her summons. It takes a woman to do things, doesn't it, Mr. Andrews?"
"Should say so," was the emphatic agreement. "I found that out the very first thing after Tildy an' me was married."
"I guess if the women didn't do things round this house there wouldn't be much done," Mrs. Andrews retorted.
"Judging from this supper, they certainly know their work," Rivers complimented. "I never tasted such doughnuts in my life. I hope Belle has taken many lessons from you, Mrs. Andrews."
"I'm afraid not, daddy," was the laughing confession. "I've been too giddy to settle down to housework."
"Runnin' away from sich fellers as Billy Lansing, eh?" Abner bantered. "Poor chap, I wonder if he's livin' yit, fer we haven't seen hair nor hide of him since that island affair."
"Belle hasn't been idle, let me tell you that," Jess defended. "I never knew her to write so many letters as she has lately."
"And not all to me, eh?" and Rivers looked quizzically at his daughter. "Oh, you needn't blush so furiously," he added. "Mr. Parker is a married man and an old friend of ours, so it's all right."
"What! Was ye writin' letters to that minister at St. Felix?" Abner asked in surprise. "Ye didn't tell us ye knew him."
"Yes, ever since I was a child," Belle explained. "He was a regular visitor at our house then, and why shouldn't I write to him?"