done, you may conclude not to go with me, for I want to say to you what I said
this morning to your cousin, Lemuel Weeks. I'm glad he and his wife are now
present, as witnesses. I'm a plain man, and all I want is to make a livin'
off the farm I've been brought up on. I'll get a girl to help you with the
work. Between you, I'll expect it to be done in a way that the dairy will
yield a fair profit. We'll try and see how we get on for three months and not
a year. I'll not bind myself longer than three months. Of course, if you
manage well, I'll be glad to have this plain business arrangement go on as
long as possible, but it's all a matter of business. If I can't make my farm
pay, I'm going to sell or rent and leave these parts."

"Oh, certainly, certainly, Mr. Holcroft! You take a very senserble view of
affairs. I hope you will find that I will do all that I agree to and a great
deal more. I'm a little afraid of the night air and the inclement season, and
so will hasten to get myself and my child ready," and she passed quickly out.

Weeks put his hand to his mouth to conceal a grin as he thought, "She hasn't
agreed to do anything that I know on. Still, she's right; she'll do a sight
more than he expects, but it won't be just what he expects."

Mrs. Weeks followed her relative to expedite matters, and it must be confessed
that the gathering of Mrs. Mumpson's belongings was no heavy task. A small
hair trunk, that had come down from the remote past, held her own and her
child's wardrobe and represented all their worldly possessions.

Mr. Weeks, much pleased at the turn of affairs, became very affable, but
confined his remarks chiefly to the weather, while Holcroft, who had an uneasy
sense of being overreached in some undetected way, was abstracted and laconic.
He was soon on the road home, however, with Mrs. Mumpson and Jane. Cousin
Lemuel's last whispered charge was, "Now, for mercy's sake, do keep your