"How long?"

"A year--two years, perhaps, if we are mutually satisfied."

"What do you do for a living?"

Smith coughed suddenly. Before he could catch his breath to answer
Benny had jumped into the breach.

"He sounds something like a Congregationalist, only he ain't that,
Aunt Jane, and he ain't after money for missionaries, either."

Jane Blaisdell smiled at Benny indulgently. Then she sighed and shook
her head.

"You know, Benny, very well, that nothing would suit Aunt Jane better
than to give money to all the missionaries in the world, if she only
had it to give!" She sighed again as she turned to Mr. Smith. "You're
working for some church, then, I take it."

Mr. Smith gave a quick gesture of dissent.

"I am a genealogist, madam, in a small way. I am collecting data for a
book on the Blaisdell family."

"Oh!" Mrs. Blaisdell frowned slightly. The look of cold disapproval
came back to her eyes. "But who pays you? WE couldn't take the book,
I'm sure. We couldn't afford it."