Chapter IX. Mrs. Mumpson Accepts Her Mission

As Holcroft drove through the town, Mrs. Wiggins, who, as matters were
explained to her, had expressed her views chiefly by affirmative nods, now
began to use her tongue with much fluency.

"Hi 'ave a friend 'herhabouts," she said, "an' she's been a-keepin' some of my
things. Hi'll be 'olden to ye, master, hif ye'll jes stop a bit hat the door
whiles hi gets 'em. Hif ye'll hadvance me a dollar or so on me wages hit'll
be a long time hafore I trouble ye hagain."

The farmer had received too broad a hint not to know that Mrs. Wiggins was
intent on renewing her acquaintance with her worst enemy. He briefly replied,
therefore, "It's too late to stop now. I'll be coming down soon again and
will get your things."

In vain Mrs. Wiggins expostulated, for he drove steadily on. With a sort of
grim humor, he thought of the meeting of the two "widdy women," as Tom had
characterized them, and of Mrs. Mumpson's dismay at finding in the "cheap
girl" a dame of sixty, weighing not far from two hundred. "If it wasn't such
awfully serious business for me," he thought, "it would be better'n going to a
theater to see the two go on. If I haven't got three 'peculiar females' on my
hands now, I'd like to hear of the man that has."

When Mrs. Wiggins found that she could not gain her point, she subsided into
utter silence. It soon became evident in the cloudy light of the moon that
she was going to sleep, for she so nodded and swayed about that the farmer
feared she would tumble out of the wagon. She occupied a seat just back of