"Yes — I stopped there a night."

"Did you see my boys?"

"Yes — I see 'em."

"Well — what did they say?" said the father, with his eye alive.

"Well — not much," said Mr. Underhill.

"They were well, I suppose?"

"First-rate — only Winthrop looked to me as if he was workin' pretty hard. He's poorer, by some pounds, I guess, than he was when he was to hum last August."

"Didn't he look as usual?" said the father with a smothered anxiety.

"There wa'n't no other change in him, that I could see, of no kind. I didn't know as Rufus was going to know who I was, at first."

"He hasn't seen much of you for some time."