"What in the world is the matter with you?" she asked."Why are you staring at that stove?"Jed started and came to life."Eh?" he exclaimed."Oh, I was thinkin' what an everlastin' nuisance 'twas--the stove, I mean.It needs more wood about every five minutes in the day, seems to--needs it now, that's what made me think of it.I was just wonderin' if 'twouldn't be a good notion to set it up out in the yard.""Out in the yard? Put the stove out in the yard? For goodness'
sake, what for?"
Jed clasped his knee in his hand and swung his foot back and forth.
"Oh" he drawled, "if 'twas out in the yard I shouldn't know whether it needed wood or not, so 'twouldn't be all the time botherin' me."However, he rose and replenished the stove.Miss Hunniwell laughed.Then she said: "Jed, you don't deserve it, because you didn't hear me when I first dropped the hint, but I came here with an invitation for you.Pa and I expect you to eat your Thanksgiving dinner with us."If she had asked him to eat it in jail Jed could not have been more disturbed.
"Now--now, Maud," he stammered, "I--I'm ever so much obliged to you, but I--I don't see how--""Nonsense! I see how perfectly well.You always act just this way whenever I invite you to anything.You're not afraid of Pa or me, are you?""W-e-e-ll, well, I ain't afraid of your Pa 's I know of, but of course, when such a fascinatin' young woman as you comes along, all rigged up to kill, why, it's natural that an old single relic like me should get kind of nervous."Maud clasped her hands."Oh," she cried, "there's another compliment! You HAVE changed, Jed.I'm going to ask Father what it means."This time Jed was really alarmed."Now, now, now," he protested, "don't go tell your Pa yarns about me.He'll come in here and pester me to death.You know what a tease he is when he gets started.Don't, Maud, don't."She looked hugely delighted at the prospect.Her eyes sparkled with mischief."I certainly shall tell him," she declared, "unless you promise to eat with us on Thanksgiving Day.Oh, come along, don't be so silly.You've eaten at our house hundreds of times."This was a slight exaggeration.Jed had eaten there possibly five times in the last five years.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.Phillips, have you?" she queried.
"Eh? Objections? To Charlie? Oh, no, no.""You like him, don't you? Father likes him very much.""Yes, indeed; like him fust-rate.All hands like Charlie, the women-folks especially."There was a perceptible interval before Miss Hunniwell spoke again.
"What do you mean by that?" she asked.
"Eh? Oh, nothin', except that, accordin' to your dad, he's a 'specially good hand at waitin' on the women and girls up at the bank, polite and nice to 'em, you know.He's even made a hit with old Melissy Busteed, and it takes a regular feller to do that."He would not promise to appear at the Hunniwell home on Thanksgiving, but he did agree to think it over.Maud had to be content with that.However, she declared that she should take his acceptance for granted.
"We shall set a place for you," she said."Of course you'll come.
It will be such a nice party, you and Pa and Mrs.Armstrong and Iand little Babbie.Oh, we'll have great fun, see if we don't.""And Charlie; you're leavin' out Charlie," Jed reminded her.
"Oh, yes, so I was.Well, I suppose he'll come, too.Good-by."She skipped away, waving him a farewell with the tail of the silver fox.Jed, gazing after her, rubbed his chin reflectively.
His indecision concerning the acceptance of the Hunniwell invitation lasted until the day before Thanksgiving.Then Barbara added her persuasions to those of Captain Sam and his daughter and he gave in.
"If you don't go, Uncle Jed," asserted Babbie, "we're all goin' to be awfully disappointed, 'specially me and Petunia--and Mamma--and Uncle Charlie.""Oh, then the rest of you folks won't care, I presume likely?"Babbie thought it over."Why, there aren't any more of us," she said."Oh, I see! You're joking again, aren't you, Uncle Jed?
