Which I hev done," she admitted stoutly.

And the ruffle on her cap did not deny it.

"Nate air twenty-one," she reiterated. "An' I s'pose he 'lows ez I
hev no call nowadays ter be his mother."

"Hain't ye got no guess whar he be gone?" asked Birt, dismayed by
this strange new complication.

"Waal, I hev been studyin' it out ez Nate mought hev rid ter Parch
Corn, whar his great-uncle, Joshua Peters, lives--him that merried
my aunt, Melissy Baker, ez war a widder then, though born a Scruggs.
An' then, ag'in, Nate MOUGHT hev tuk it inter his head ter go ter
the Cross-roads, a-courtin' a gal thar ez he hev been talkin' about
powerful, lately. But they tells me," Mrs. Griggs expostulated, as
it were, "that them gals at the Cross-roads is in no way desirable,-
-specially this hyar Elviry Mills, ez mighty nigh all the boys on
the mounting hev los' thar wits about,--what little wits ez they
ever hed ter lose, I mean ter say. But Nate thinks he hev got a
right ter a ch'ice, bein' ez he air turned twenty-one."

"Did he say when he 'lowed ter come back?" Birt asked.

"'Bout two or three weeks Nate laid off ter be away; but whar he hev
gone, an' what's his yerrand, he let no human know," returned Mrs.
Griggs. "I hev been powerful aggervated 'bout this caper o' Nate's.
I ain't afeard he'll git hisself hurt no ways whilst he be gone, for
Nate is mighty apt ter take keer o' Nate." She nodded her head
convincingly, and the great ruffle on her cap shook in