Abundance hath not been
neglectful of thy interests, during the scout."
"What!" demanded the husband, with rather more of earnestness than was
generally exhibited by one of habits as restrained as his own; "hath the
woman called upon the neighbors, during my absence?"
Dudley nodded an assent.
"And shall I find another boy beneath my roof?"
Doctor Ergot nodded three times with a gravity that might have suited a
communication even more weighty than the one he made.
"Thy woman rarely doth a good turn by halves, Reuben. Thou wilt find that
she hath made provision for a successor to our good neighbor Ergot, since
a seventh son is born in thy house."
The broad, honest face of the father flushed with joy, and then a feeling
less selfish came over him. He asked, with a slight tremor in the voice,
that was none the less touching for coming from the lips of one so stout
of frame and firm of movement--
"And the woman?--in what manner doth Abundance bear up under the
blessing?"
"Bravely," returned the leech; "go to thy dwelling, Sergeant Ring, and
praise God that there is one to look to its concerns, in thy absence.
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