“'Who's that agin?' says Jedwort.
“I told him.
“'Wal, she's a mighty nice-lookin' gal!'
“'Yes,' says I, she takes after her mother.'
“Little Willie, now eight years old, came out of the woodshed with a bow-and-arrow in his hand, and stared like an owl, hearing his father talk.
“'What boy is that?' says Jedwort. And when I told him, he muttered, 'He's an ugly-looking brat!'
“'He's more like his father,' says I.
“The truth is, Willie was such a fine boy the old man was afraid to praise him, for fear I'd say of him, as I'd said of the girls, that he favored his mother.
“Susie ran back and gave the alarm; and then out came mother, and Maria with her baby in her arms, for I forgot to tell you that we had been married now nigh on to two years.
“Well, the women folks were as much astonished as I had been when Jedwort first spoke, and a good deal more delighted. They drew him into the house; and I am bound to say he behaved remarkably well. He kept looking at his wife, and his children, and his grandchild, and the new paper on the walls, and the new furniture, and now and then asking a question or making a remark.