“He went to HER!” gasped Mrs. Phinney.
“Wait,” continued her husband. “I must have stood there twenty minutes when I heard somebody hurryin' down the Boulevard. 'Twas Cornelius Rowe, all red-faced and het up, but bu'stin' with news.
“''Lo, Sim!' says he to me. 'Is Cap'n Sol home? Does he know?'
“'Know? Know what?” says I.
“'Why, the trick Mr. Williams put up on him? Hey? You ain't heard? Well, Mr. Williams's fixed him nice, HE has! Seems Abner Payne hadn't answered Sol's letter tellin' him he'd accept the offer to swap lots, and Williams went up to Wareham where Payne's been stayin' and offered him a thumpin' price for the land on Main Street, and took it. The deed's all made out. Cap'n Sol can't move where he was goin' to, and he's left with his house on the town, as you might say. Ain't it a joke, though? Where is Sol? I want to be the fust to tell him and see how he acts. Is he to home?'
“I was shook pretty nigh to pieces, but I had some sense left.
“'No, he ain't,' says I. 'I see him go up street a spell ago.'”
“Why, Simeon!” interrupted Mrs. Phinney once more. “Was that true? How COULD you see him when—”
“Be still! S'pose I was goin' to tell him where Sol HAD gone? I'd have lied myself blue fust. However, Cornelius was satisfied.
“'That so?' he grunts. 'By jings! I'm goin' to find him.'