"In fact, neighbor Dunham, I came here this evening to ask if you couldn't arrange to pay the mortgage."
"Pay the mortgage!" echoed Adin Dunham, with a blank look.
"Yes; I thought you might raise the money in some way."
"I wish you'd tell me where, Squire Bates. Eight hundred dollars! Why it's as big to me as the national debt! I did expect to pay off the mortgage with that thousand dollars, that I was so wickedly robbed of."
"Oh, ah, to be sure! It was a great pity that you were prevented from doing it."
"That robbery broke me down, Squire Bates. I believe it has made me five years older, though it happened less than a year ago. It makes me feel kind of rebellious at times to think that such a villain as the man that robbed me should go unpunished."
"It isn't best to cry over spilt milk," said the squire who felt obviously uncomfortable under these allusions.
"I can't help thinkin' of it though, squire."
"To be sure, to be sure!"
"When it was gone, I hoped that Dean would be able to help me to pay up the mortgage some time."