Keziah Coffin | Page 7

assessor and tax collector, but when he visited
dwellings containing single women or widows, Lavinia always
accompanied him, "to help him in his figgerin'," she said.
Consequently, when he appeared, unchaperoned, on the walk leading to
the side door of the Coffin homestead, Keziah and her friend were
surprised.
"He's dressed to kill," whispered Grace, at the window. "Even his tall
hat; and in this fog! I do believe he's coming courting, Aunt Keziah."
"Humph!" was the ungracious answer. "He's come to say good-by, I
s'pose, and to find out where I'm goin' and how much pay I'm goin' to
get and if my rent's settled, and a few other little things that ain't any of
his business. Laviny put him up to it, you see. She'll be along pretty
quick. Well, I'll fix him so he won't talk much. He can help us take
down that stovepipe. I said 'twas a job for a man, and a half one's better
than none-- Why, how d'ye do, 'Bishy? Come right in. Pretty thick
outside, isn't it?"
Mr. Pepper entered diffidently.
"Er--er--how d'ye do, Keziah?" he stammered. "I thought I'd just run in
a minute and--"
"Yes, yes. Glad to see you. Take off your hat. My sakes! it's pretty wet.
How did Laviny come to let you-- I mean how'd you come to wear a
beaver such a mornin's this?"

Kyan removed the silk hat and inspected its limp grandeur ruefully.
"I--I--" he began. "Well, the fact is, I come out by myself. You see,
Laviny's gone up to Sarah B.'s to talk church doin's. I--I-- well, I kind
of wanted to speak with you about somethin', Keziah, so-- Oh! I didn't
see you, Gracie. Good mornin'."
He didn't seem overjoyed to see Miss Van Horne, as it was. In fact, he
reddened perceptibly and backed toward the door. The girl, her eyes
twinkling, took up her jacket and hat.
"Oh! I'm not going to stop, Mr. Pepper," she said. "I was only helping
Aunt Keziah a little, that's all. I must run on now."
"Run on--nonsense!" declared Keziah decisively. "You're goin' to stay
right here and help us get that stovepipe down. And 'Bishy'll help, too.
Won't you, 'Bish?"
The stovepipe was attached to the "air-tight" in the dining room. It--the
pipe--rose perpendicularly for a few feet and then extended horizontally,
over the high-boy, until it entered the wall. Kyan looked at it and then
at his "Sunday clothes."
"Why, I'd be glad to, of course," he declared with dubious enthusiasm.
"But I don't know's I'll have time. Perhaps I'd better come later and do
it. Laviny, she--"
"Oh, Laviny can spare you for a few minutes, I guess; 'specially as she
don't know you're out. Better take your coat off, hadn't you? Grace,
fetch one of those chairs for Ky--for 'Bishy to stand in."
Grace obediently brought the chair. It happened to be the one with a
rickety leg, but its owner was helping the reluctant Abishai remove the
long-tailed blue coat which had been his wedding garment and had
adorned his person on occasions of ceremony ever since. She did not
notice the chair.
"It's real good of you to offer to help," she said. "Grace and I didn't

hardly dast to try it alone. That pipe's been up so long that I wouldn't
wonder if 'twas chock-full of soot. If you're careful, though, I don't
believe you'll get any on you. Never mind the floor; I'm goin' to wash
that before I leave."
Reluctantly, slowly, the unwilling Mr. Pepper suffered himself to be
led to the chair. He mounted it and gingerly took hold of the pipe.
"Better loosen it at the stove hole first," advised Keziah. "What was it
you wanted to see me about, 'Bish?"
"Oh, nothin', nothin'," was the hasty response. "Nothin' of any
account--that is to say--"
He turned redder than ever and wrenched at the pipe. It loosened at its
lower end and the wires holding it in suspension shook.
"I guess," observed the lady of the house, "that you'd better move that
chest of drawers out so's you can get behind it. Grace, you help me.
There! that's better. Now move your chair."
Kyan stepped from the chair and moved the latter to a position between
the high-boy and the wall. Then he remounted and gripped the pipe in
the middle of its horizontal section.
"Seems to stick in the chimney there, don't it?" queried Keziah.
"Wiggle it back and forth; that ought to loosen it. What was it you
wanted to say, 'Bish?"
Apparently, Mr. Pepper had nothing to say. The crimson tide had
reached his ears, which, always noticeable because of their size and
spread, were now lit up like a schooner's sails at sunset. His hands
trembled on the