ME, though they might not be to some folks--" another derisive wink at
Asaph--"I set down and wrote her, tellin' what you'd pay, Cy, what she'd
have to do, and when she'd have to come. Saturday night I got a letter,
sayin' terms was all right, and she'd be on hand by this mornin's train.
Course she's only on trial for a month, but you had to have SOMEBODY,
and the candy-cart feller said--"

The town clerk slapped his knee.

"Debby Beasley!" he cried. "I know who she is! I've got a cousin in
Trumet. Debby Beasley! Aunt Debby, they call her. Why! she's old enough
to be Methusalem's grandmarm, and--"

"If I recollect right," interrupted Bailey, with dignity, "Cy never said
he wanted a YOUNG woman--a frivolous, giddy critter, always riggin' up
and chasin' the fellers. He wanted a sot, sober housekeeper."

"Godfrey! Aunt Debby ain't frivolous! She couldn't chase a lame
clam--and catch it. And DEEF! Godfrey--scissors! she's deefer 'n one of
them cast-iron Newfoundlands in Heman's yard! Do you mean to say, Bailey
Bangs, that you went ahead, on your own hook, and hired that old relic
to--"

"I did. And I had my authority, didn't I, Whit? You told me you'd leave
it in my hands, now didn't you?"

The captain smiled somewhat ruefully, and scratched his head. "Why,
to be honest, Bailey, I believe I did," he admitted. "Still, I hardly
expected--Humph! is she deef, as Ase says?"