He hesitated.
"Ain't goin' to be any other company, is there?" he asked, after a
moment. It was now that Maud showed her first symptoms of
embarrassment.
"Why," she said, twirling the fox tail and looking at the floor,
"there may be one or two more. I thought--I mean Pa and I thought
perhaps we might invite Mrs. Armstrong and Babbie. You know them,
Jed, so they won't be like strangers. And Pa thinks Mrs. Armstrong
is a very nice lady, a real addition to the town; I've heard him
say so often," she added, earnestly.
Jed was silent. She looked up at him from under the brim of the
new hat.
"You wouldn't mind them, Jed, would you?" she asked. "They
wouldn't be like strangers, you know."
Jed rubbed his chin. "I--I don't know's I would," he mused,
"always providin' they didn't mind me. But I don't cal'late Mrs.
Ruth--Mrs. Armstrong, I mean--would want to leave Charlie to home
alone on Thanksgivin' Day. If she took Babbie, you know, there
wouldn't be anybody left to keep him company."
Miss Hunniwell twirled the fox tail in an opposite direction. "Oh,
of course," she said, with elaborate carelessness, "we should
invite Mrs. Armstrong's brother if we invited her. Of course we
should HAVE to do that."
Jed nodded, but he made no comment. His visitor watched him from
beneath the hat brim.
"You--you haven't any objection to Mr.
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