You know the game if you've ever been to sewin'
circle.
"But all this plannin' was knocked in the head by a letter that Hannah
got on an afternoon about a week after she left home. It was short but
there was meat in it. It said: 'If you want to keep your brother from
marryin' Abbie Larkin you had better come home quick!' 'Twas signed 'A
Friend.'
"Did Hannah come home? Well, didn't she! She landed at Orham the next
night. And she done some thinkin' on the way, too. She kept out of the
way of everybody and went straight up to the house. 'Twas dark and shut
up, but the back door key was under the mat, as usual, so she got in all
right. The plants hadn't been watered for two days, at least; the clock
had stopped; the cat's saucer was licked dry as a contribution box, and
the critter itself was underfoot every second, whoopin' for somethin'
to eat. The whole thing pretty nigh broke Hannah's heart, but she wa'n't
the kind to give up while there was a shot in the locker.
"She went to the closet and found that Kenelm's Sunday hat and coat was
gone. Then she locked the back door again and cut acrost the lots down
to Abbie's. She crept round the back way and peeked under the curtain
at the settin'-room window. There set Abbie, lookin' sweet and sugary.
Likewise, there was Kenelm, lookin' mighty comfortable, with a big
cigar in his mouth and more on the table side of him. Hannah gritted her
teeth, but she kept quiet.
"About ten minutes after that Chris Badger was consider'ble surprised to
hear a knock at the back door of his store and to find that 'twas Hannah
that had knocked.
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