He put that toe on the choppin’ block
And off he whacked it, slap, ker-chock!
And he throwed that toe ’bout ha’f a mile—
Oh, that was old Zibe Haines’s style.
Tum-diddy-dum and tum-diddy-dee,
Queer old crab was Haines, was he!”
—Narrated by Marriner Amazeen.
Squire Phineas Look, during the life of his love for Sylvena Willard, had become pretty thoroughly accustomed to having his heart affairs marked “Continued till next session,” as he half-bitterly termed it in his meditations.
Coupled with Squire Phin’s natural reserve was that quality of his trained lawyer mind that was willing to abide delays till “his case was prepared.”
In some men this would have been timidity.