"Or would you rather
not get it till after Christmas?"
"I don't know as it matters much, out here in the country.
We don't get a great many folks passin', best of times.
An' it's more of a job to take care of the stock."
"That's so," Mr Crow told them. "Chores come heavier when
there's snow on the ground, a great sight, especially if
there's drifts."
And for an instant, with his knotted hands hanging between
his knees he pondered this unvarying aspect of his yearly
experience. They all pondered it, sympathetic.
"Well, now, Mr Farquharson," Mrs Crow turned to him. "An'
how reely BE ye? We've heard better, an' worse, an'
middlin'--there's ben such contradictory reports."
"Oh, very well, Mrs Crow. Never better. I'm going to give
a lot more trouble yet. I can't do it in politics, that's
the worst of it. But here's the man that's going to do
it for me. Here's the man!"
The Crows looked at the pretendant, as in duty bound,
but not any longer than they could help.
"Why, I guess you were at school with Elmore?" said Crow,
as if the idea had just struck him.
"He may be right peart, for all that," said Elmore's
mother, and Elmore, himself, entering with two leading
Liberals of Jordanville, effected a diversion, under
cover of which Mrs Crow escaped, to superintend, with
Bella, the last touches to the supper in the kitchen.
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