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It must ha' been pretty near four years since George Dixon 'ad run off to sea when Charlie, who was sitting in the bar one arternoon reading the paper, things being dull, saw a man's head peep through the door for a minute and then disappear. A'most direckly arterward it looked in at another door and then disappeared agin.
She got another letter two days arterward, saying that he 'ad shipped as ordinary seaman on an American barque called the Seabird, bound for California, and that 'e expected to be away a year, or thereabouts. "It'll do 'im good," ses old Burge, when Mrs. Dixon read the letter to 'em. "It's a 'ard life is the sea, and he'll appreciate his 'ome when 'e comes back to it agin.
When the doctor came in 'arf an hour arterward all the men was as quiet as mice, and pore Bill was still w'ispering as 'ard as he could w'isper. The doctor pushed 'em out of the way in a moment, and then 'e bent over Bill and felt 'is pulse and looked at 'is tongue.
"That be a lesson for you, lad. Schemin' work bean't the thing, you see. It comes back to cuss one; while work as be well did be often like a blessin' arterward, just as this tarpolin be now. But see! as I told you, the rain would soon be over. There be the sun again, hot an' fiery as ever. There ain't no time to waste. Take a big drink, afore I put the stopper into the bottle."
An' how she looked the fust day she stood in the door o' my cabin up thar kem ter nuss Elmiry through that spell she hed o' the scarlet fever. An' arterward she says ter me: 'Ye do manage s'prisin', Justus; an' I be goin' ter save ye some gyardin seed out'n my patch this year, an' ef ye'll plough my patch I'll loan ye my horse-critter ter plough your'n.
Do everything 'bout'n the 'lection! Turn every stone! Time enough fur courtin' arterward! Time enough!" Once more Justus laughed contentedly. The man beside him stirred uneasily, then broke out irritably: "Waal, I'm powerful tired o' this 'lection foolishness, fur one. I wisht I hed never let ye push an' boost me inter it.
"Jim," said he, "can you show me his bones, and swear to your belief that he was an escaped pauper?" "Easy." "Was there a man lost from the poor-house about that time?" "Yes, an' there was a row about it, an' arterward old Buffum was took with knowin' less than he ever knowed afore. He always did make a fuss about breathin', so he give it up." "Well, the man you buried is the man I'm after."
The fust cottage Joe came to was Bill Jones's, and, knowing Bill's temper, he stood for some time afore he could make up 'is mind to knock; but at last he up with 'is stick and banged away at the door. A minute arterward he 'eard the bedroom winder pushed open, and then Bill Jones popped his 'cad out and called to know wot was the matter and who it was.
So he took it, an' said he warn't likely to forget about it; an' then he made his bow, an' the guardeens said he was their father, an' their mother, an' their great-aunt, an' I d' 'no' what all, an' made him stay to supper, an' he didn't eat nothin' for a week arterward." The farmer paused, and Hildegarde drew a long breath, "Oh!" she cried, "what a delightful story, Farmer Hartley!
Ye hev got it a sight mo' at heart than yer brother. Fur thar war Wat, all twisted up at the small e-end o' the tellingscope, purtendin' ter be on mighty close terms with the comic, though lots o' other men said it jes' dazed thar eyes, an' they couldn't see nuthin' through it, an' mighty leetle arterward through sightin' so long one-eyed."
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