Jed clasped his knee in his hand and swung his foot back and forth.
"Oh" he drawled, "if "twas out in the yard I shouldn"t know whether it needed wood or not, so "twouldn"t be all the time botherin" me."
However, he rose and replenished the stove. Miss Hunniwell laughed. Then she said: "Jed, you don"t deserve it, because you didn"t hear me when I first dropped the hint, but I came here with an invitation for you. Pa and I expect you to eat your Thanksgiving dinner with us."
If she had asked him to eat it in jail Jed could not have been more disturbed.
"Now--now, Maud," he stammered, "I--I"m ever so much obliged to you, but I--I don"t see how--"
"Nonsense! I see how perfectly well. You always act just this way whenever I invite you to anything. You"re not afraid of Pa or me, are you?"
"W-e-e-ll, well, I ain"t afraid of your Pa "s I know of, but of course, when such a fascinatin" young woman as you comes along, all rigged up to kill, why, it"s natural that an old single relic like me should get kind of nervous."
Maud clasped her hands. "Oh," she cried, "there"s another compliment! You HAVE changed, Jed. I"m going to ask Father what it means."
This time Jed was really alarmed. "Now, now, now," he protested, "don"t go tell your Pa yarns about me. He"ll come in here and pester me to death. You know what a tease he is when he gets started. Don"t, Maud, don"t."
She looked hugely delighted at the prospect. Her eyes sparkled with mischief. "I certainly shall tell him," she declared, "unless you promise to eat with us on Thanksgiving Day. Oh, come along, don"t be so silly. You"ve eaten at our house hundreds of times."
This was a slight exaggeration. Jed had eaten there possibly five times in the last five years. He hesitated.
"Ain"t goin" to be any other company, is there?" he asked, after a moment. It was now that Maud showed her first symptoms of embarra.s.sment.
"Why," she said, twirling the fox tail and looking at the floor, "there may be one or two more. I thought--I mean Pa and I thought perhaps we might invite Mrs. Armstrong and Babbie. You know them, Jed, so they won"t be like strangers. And Pa thinks Mrs. Armstrong is a very nice lady, a real addition to the town; I"ve heard him say so often," she added, earnestly.
Jed was silent. She looked up at him from under the brim of the new hat.
"You wouldn"t mind them, Jed, would you?" she asked. "They wouldn"t be like strangers, you know."
Jed rubbed his chin. "I--I don"t know"s I would," he mused, "always providin" they didn"t mind me. But I don"t cal"late Mrs.
Ruth--Mrs. Armstrong, I mean--would want to leave Charlie to home alone on Thanksgivin" Day. If she took Babbie, you know, there wouldn"t be anybody left to keep him company."
Miss Hunniwell twirled the fox tail in an opposite direction. "Oh, of course," she said, with elaborate carelessness, "we should invite Mrs. Armstrong"s brother if we invited her. Of course we should HAVE to do that."
Jed nodded, but he made no comment. His visitor watched him from beneath the hat brim.
"You--you haven"t any objection to Mr. Phillips, have you?" she queried.
"Eh? Objections? To Charlie? Oh, no, no."
"You like him, don"t you? Father likes him very much."
"Yes, indeed; like him fust-rate. All hands like Charlie, the women-folks especially."
There was a perceptible interval before Miss Hunniwell spoke again.
"What do you mean by that?" she asked.
"Eh? Oh, nothin", except that, accordin" to your dad, he"s a "specially good hand at waitin" on the women and girls up at the bank, polite and nice to "em, you know. He"s even made a hit with old Melissy Busteed, and it takes a regular feller to do that."
He would not promise to appear at the Hunniwell home on Thanksgiving, but he did agree to think it over. Maud had to be content with that. However, she declared that she should take his acceptance for granted.
"We shall set a place for you," she said. "Of course you"ll come.
It will be such a nice party, you and Pa and Mrs. Armstrong and I and little Babbie. Oh, we"ll have great fun, see if we don"t."
"And Charlie; you"re leavin" out Charlie," Jed reminded her.
"Oh, yes, so I was. Well, I suppose he"ll come, too. Good-by."
She skipped away, waving him a farewell with the tail of the silver fox. Jed, gazing after her, rubbed his chin reflectively.
His indecision concerning the acceptance of the Hunniwell invitation lasted until the day before Thanksgiving. Then Barbara added her persuasions to those of Captain Sam and his daughter and he gave in.
"If you don"t go, Uncle Jed," a.s.serted Babbie, "we"re all goin" to be awfully disappointed, "specially me and Petunia--and Mamma--and Uncle Charlie."
"Oh, then the rest of you folks won"t care, I presume likely?"
Babbie thought it over. "Why, there aren"t any more of us," she said. "Oh, I see! You"re joking again, aren"t you, Uncle Jed?
"Most everybody I know laughs when they make jokes, but you don"t, you look as if you were going to cry. That"s why I don"t laugh sometimes right off," she explained, politely. "If you was really feeling so bad it wouldn"t be nice to laugh, you know."
Jed laughed then, himself. "So Petunia would feel bad if I didn"t go to Sam"s, would she?" he inquired.
"Yes," solemnly. "She told me she shouldn"t eat one single thing if you didn"t go. She"s a very high-strung child."
That settled it. Jed argued that Petunia must on no account be strung higher than she was and consented to dine at the Hunniwells".
The day before Thanksgiving brought another visitor to the windmill shop, one as welcome as he was unexpected. Jed, hearing the door to the stock room open, shouted "Come in" from his seat at the workbench in the inner room. When his summons was obeyed he looked up to see a khaki-clad figure advancing with extended hand.
"Why, h.e.l.lo, Major!" he exclaimed. "I"m real glad to-- Eh, "tain"t Major Grover, is it? Who-- Why, Leander Babbitt! Well, well, well!"
Young Babbitt was straight and square-shouldered and brown.
Military training and life at Camp Devens had wrought the miracle in his case which it works in so many. Jed found it hard to recognize the stoop-shouldered son of the hardware dealer in the spruce young soldier before him. When he complimented Leander upon the improvement the latter disclaimed any credit.
"Thank the drill master second and yourself first, Jed," he said.
"They"ll make a man of a fellow up there at Ayer if he"ll give "em half a chance. Probably I shouldn"t have had the chance if it hadn"t been for you. You were the one who really put me up to enlisting."
Jed refused to listen. "Can"t make a man out of a punkinhead," he a.s.serted. "If you hadn"t had the right stuff in you, Leander, drill masters nor n.o.body else could have fetched it out. How do you like belongin" to Uncle Sam?"
Young Babbitt liked it and said so. "I feel as if I were doing something at last," he said; "as if I was part of the biggest thing in the world. Course I"m only a mighty little part, but, after all, it"s something."
Jed nodded, gravely. "You bet it"s somethin"," he argued. "It"s a lot, a whole lot. I only wish I was standin" alongside of you in the ranks, Leander. . . . I"d be a sight, though, wouldn"t I?" he added, his lip twitching in the fleeting smile. "What do you think the Commodore, or General, or whoever "tis bosses things at the camp, would say when he saw me? He"d think the flagpole had grown feet, and was walkin" round, I cal"late."
He asked his young friend what reception he met with upon his return home. Leander smiled ruefully.
"My step-mother seemed glad enough to see me," he said. "She and I had some long talks on the subject and I think she doesn"t blame me much for going into the service. I told her the whole story and, down in her heart, I believe she thinks I did right."
Jed nodded. "Don"t see how she could help it," he said. "How does your dad take it?"
Leander hesitated. "Well," he said, "you know Father. He doesn"t change his mind easily. He and I didn"t get as close together as I wish we could. And it wasn"t my fault that we didn"t," he added, earnestly.