"Maid!"
"What's he haulin' lumber for?"
"I 'low he's haulin' lumber jus' for the same reason that any young fellow would haul lumber for in the Spring o' the year."
"'Tis a new house, isn't it?"
"Ay; 'tis a new house. He've been plannin' t' build his house this long time, as you knows very well, an' now he've gone at it in a forehanded way."
"Well, then," Peggy insisted, finding it hard to command breath for the question, "who's the maid?"
"No maid in particular that I knows of."
"Well, I knows!" Peggy flashed. "'Tis the new schoolmistress from Grace Harbor. That's who 'tis!"
"Ah-ha!" said Skipper John.
"Yes, 'tis! She've cotched his fancy with her eyeglasses an' grammar. The false, simperin', titterin' cat! Oh, poor Dickie Blue!"