property to carry on his business operations independently, it is
doubtful if he would have helped himself so freely to his
neighbor's goods.
Riverboro regretted the loss of Mrs. Simpson, who was useful in
scrubbing, cleaning, and washing, and was thought to exercise
some influence over her predatory spouse. There was a story of
their early life together, when they had a farm; a story to the
effect that Mrs. Simpson always rode on every load of hay that
her husband took to Milltown, with the view of keeping him sober
through the day. After he turned out of the country road and
approached the metropolis, it was said that he used to bury the
docile lady in the load. He would then drive on to the scales,
have the weight of hay entered in the buyer's book, take his
horses to the stable for feed and water, and when a favorable
opportunity offered he would assist the hot and panting Mrs.
Simpson out of the side or back of the rack, and gallantly brush
the straw from her person. For this reason it was always
asserted that Abner Simpson sold his wife every time he went to
Milltown, but the story was never fully substantiated, and at all
events it was the only suspected blot on meek Mrs. Simpson's
personal reputation.
As for the Simpson children, they were missed chiefly as familiar
fiures by the roadside; but Rebecca honestly loved Clara Belle,
notwithstanding her Aunt Miranda's opposition to the intimacy.
Rebecca's curious taste in friends was a source of continual
anxiety to her aunt.
"Anything that's human flesh is good enough for her!" Miranda
groaned to Jane. "She'll ride with the rag-sack-and-bottle
peddler just as quick as she would with the minister; she always
sets beside the barefooted young ones at Sabbath school; and