Uncle Braddock stood silent for a few minutes, and then he said:

"Well, Mah'sr Harry, dis is jist de truf; dem ar boys, dey ses to me dat
ef I come foolin' around dere any more, dey'd jist chop me up, ole
wrapper an' all, and haul me off fur kindlin' wood. Dey say I was dry
enough. An' dey needn't a made sich a fuss about it, fur I didn't
trouble 'em much; hardly eber went nigh 'em. Ten cents' worf o'
oberseein' aint a-gwine to hurt nobody."

"Well, Uncle Braddock," said Harry, laughing, "I think you're wise to
give it up."

"Dat's so," said the old negro, and away he trudged to Aunt Matilda's
cabin, where, no doubt, he ate a very good ten cents' worth of corn-meal
and bacon.

This wood enterprise of Harry's worked pretty well on the whole.
Sometimes the men cut and hauled quite steadily, and sometimes they did
not. Once every two weeks Harry rode over to the station, and collected
what was due him; and his share of the profits kept Aunt Matilda quite
comfortably.

But, although Kate was debarred from any share in this business, she
worked every day at her tidies for the store, and knit stockings,
besides, for some of the neighbors, who furnished the yarn and paid her
a fair price. There were people who thought Mrs. Loudon did wrong in
allowing her daughter to work for money in this way, but Kate's mother
said that the end justified the work, and that so long as Kate
persevered in her self-appointed tasks, she should not interfere.