"You're a quick judge of human nature, Mr. Wright. But before we talk
business I want some advice and assistance. We can't live at that
hotel; for my wife would have to sit in a cold room all day, which
isn't to be thought of. Can't you suggest a boarding place, in a
private family?"
"Scarcely, I'm afraid," Caleb replied after a moment of thought. "I
don't b'lieve any families here ever took boarders, or would know
how to do it to your likin'. What's the matter with your takin' your
uncle's house an' livin' in it? It's plain, but comfortable, an' just
as he left it."
"Is there a servant in it?"
"Oh, no; there hasn't been since his wife died, an' _she_ wasn't
what you city folks call a servant. 'Helper' is what you want to say
in these parts. They're hard to get, too, an' if they're not treated
same as if they was members of the family, they won't stay. About your
uncle,--well, you see he took his meals at the hotel, an' done his own
housework, which didn't amount to much except makin' his bed ev'ry
mornin' an' makin' fire through the winter. S'pose you take a look at
it, when you're good and ready. It's on the back of the store-lot, and
the key is in the desk here. Your furniture an' things, that come by
rail, I had put in the warehouse behind the store, not knowin' just
what you'd want to do."
Philip and Grace looked at each other, and exchanged a few words about
possible housekeeping. Caleb looked at both with great interest, and
improved the first moment of silence to say:--
"An' she's--you've--been a shop-girl!" Philip frowned slightly, and
Caleb hastened to add, "I ort to have said a saleswoman. But who would
have thought it!"
"Caleb is a character," Grace said as soon as she and her husband left
the store. "I'm going to be very fond of him."
"Very well; do so. I'll promise not to be jealous. He's certainly
hearty, and 'tis good for us that he's honest; for we and all we have
are practically in his hands and will remain there until I get a grip
on the business. But I do wish Uncle Jethro hadn't been so enragingly
non-committal about the chap's peculiarities. I shall be on pins and
needles until I know what the old gentleman was hinting at. Besides, he
may have been entirely mistaken. A mind that could imagine that this
out-of-the-world hole-in-the-ground must one day become a city could
scarcely have been entirely trustworthy about anything."