making a good impression the first thing, and instead of that he'd gone
and "foozled his approach," as that city feller said last summer when
he ran the catboat plump into the end of the pier. Deborah, she went out
into the kitchen, but she ordered Ase to stay in the dining room and set
the table; told him to get the dishes out of the closet.

All the time he was doing it he kept thinking about the mistake he'd
made, and wondering if there wa'n't some way to square up and get solid
with the widow. Asaph was a good deal of a philosopher, and his motto
was--so he told me afterward, that time I spoke of when he'd been
investigating the jug--his motto was: "Every hard shell has a soft spot
somewheres, and after you find it, it's easy." If he could only find
out something that Deborah Badger was particular interested in, then
he believed he could make a ten-strike. And, all at once, down in the
corner of the closet, he see a big pile of papers and magazines. The one
on top was the Banner of Light, and underneath that was the Mysterious
Magazine.

Then he remembered, all of a sudden, the town talk about Debby's
believing in mediums and spooks and fortune tellers and such. And he
commenced to set up and take notice.

At the supper table he was as mum as a rundown clock; just set in his
chair and looked at Mrs. Badger. She got nervous and fidgety after a
spell, and fin'lly bu'sts out with: "What are you staring at me like
that for?"

Ase kind of jumped and looked surprised. "Staring?" says he. "Was I
staring?"