"Is that all?"

"That's enough,--as far as I've got. You're a good deal smarter than I
be, sir: won't you tell me how to go further?"

The lawyer shook his head and departed. The cobbler fell on his knees
and buried his face in his hands. The lawyer, chancing to look in the
window, saw the movement; then he drew his hat down over his eyes and
sauntered off.




CHAPTER X.


The genuineness of the change which had come over Sam Kimper slowly
became the subject of general conversation in Bruceton. Judge Prency
frequently spoke of it; so did his wife; and, as the Prencys were
leaders of village society, whatever interested them became the
fashion. People with shoes which needed repairing visited the new
cobbler in great numbers, each prompted as much by curiosity as by
business, for they seldom haggled about prices.

Sam's family, too, began to receive some attention. Mrs. Prency, having
first secured a promise from Sam that the children should go to
Sunday-school if they could be decently clad, interested several ladies
to the extent of bestowing some old clothing, which she hired a sewing
woman to make over into becoming garments for Billy and Mary. Mrs.