“You don’t understand my kind of work, or you wouldn’t say so. But about the minister? If I were to pledge myself to any amount for his support, I should feel just as though I were in a measure responsible for the right arrangement of all things with regard to his salary, and the paying of it. Anything I have to do with, I want to have go right along without any trouble, and unless Merleville folks do differently than they have so far, it won’t be so in this matter.”
“Yes, I shouldn’t wonder if there would be a hitch before long. But I guess you’d better think before you say no. I guess it’ll pay in the long run.”
“Thank you, Mr Snow. I’ll take your advice and think of it,” said Mr Greenleaf, as Sampson stopped at his own gate. He watched him going up the hill.
“He’s goin’ along up to the widow Jones’ now, I’ll bet. I shouldn’t wonder if he was a goin’ to lose me my chance of getting her place. It kind o’ seems as though I ought to have it; it fits on so nice to mine. And they say old Skinflint is going to foreclose right off. I’ll have to make things fit pretty tight this winter, if I have to raise the cash. But it does seem as if I ought to have it. Maybe it’s Celestia the Squire wants, and not the farm.”
He came back to close the gate which, in his earnestness, he had forgotten, and leaned for a moment over it.
“Well, now, it does beat all. Here have I been forgetting all about what I have heard over yonder to the meeting-house. Deacon Sterne needn’t waste no more words, to prove total depravity to me. I’ve got to know it pretty well by this time;” and, with a sigh, he turned toward the house.
Chapter Seven.
The next week was a busy one to all. Mr Elliott, during that time, took up his residence at Judge Merle’s, only making daily visits to the little brown house behind the elms where Janet and the bairns were putting things to rights. There was a great deal to be done, but it was lovely weather, and all were in excellent spirits, and each did something to help. The lads broke sticks and carried water, and Janet’s mammoth washing was accomplished in an incredibly short time; and before the week was over the little brown house began to look like a home.