'Houses enough, but they all is set up so high in their rents, you see.' 'Is that the trouble?' 'That is exactly the trouble; and Miss Esther, I can see, she doesn't know just what to do.' 'They ain't gittin' along well, Christopher?' 'Well, there is no doubt they ain't! I should say they was gettin' on uncommon bad. Don't seem as if they could any way pay up all their bills at once. They pay this man, and then run up a new score with some other man. Miss Esther, she tries all she knows; but there ain't no one to help her.' 'They git this house cheaper than they'd git any one in town, I guess. They'd best stay where they be.' 'Yes, but you see, Miss Esther has to go and come every day now; she's teachin' in a school, that's what she is,' said Christopher, letting his voice drop as if he were speaking of some desecration. 'That's what she is; and so she has to be there regular, rain or shine makes no difference. An' if they was in town, you see, they wouldn't want the horse, nor me.' '_You_ don't cost 'em nothin'!' returned Mrs. Bounder. 'No; but they don't know that; and _if_ they knowed it, you see, there'd be the devil to pay.' 'I wouldn't give myself bad names, ef I was you,' remarked Mrs. Bounder quietly. 'Christopher'-- 'What then?' 'I'm jes' thinkin''-- 'What are you thinkin' about?' 'Jes' you wait till I know myself, and I'll tell ye.' Christopher was silent, watching from time to time his spouse, who seemed to be going on with her supper in orderly fashion. Mr. Bounder was not misled by this, and watched curiously. He had acquired in a few months a large respect for his wife. Her very unadorned attire, and her peculiar way of knotting up her hair, did not hinder that he had a great and growing value for her. Christopher would have liked her certainly to dress better and to put on a cap; nevertheless, and odd as it may seem, he was learning to be proud of his very independent wife, and even boasted to his sister that she was a 'character.' Now he waited for what was to come next. 'I guess I was a fool,' began Mrs. Bounder at last. 'But it came into my head, ef they're in such a fix as you say, whether maybe they wouldn't take up with my house. I guess, hardly likely.' '_Your_ house?' inquired Christopher, in astonishment. But his wife calmly nodded. '_Your_ house!' repeated Christopher. 'Which one?' 'Wall, not this one, I guess,' said his wife quietly. 'But I've got one in town.' 'A house in town! Why, I never heard of it before.' 'No, 'cause it's been standin' empty for a spell back, doin' nothin'. Ef there had been rent comin' in, I guess you'd have heard of it. But the last folks went out; and I hadn't found no one that suited me to let hev it.' 'Would it do for the colonel and Miss Esther?' 'That's jes' what I don' know, Christopher. It would du as fur's the rent goes; an' it's all right and tight. It won't let the rain in on 'em; I've kep' it in order.'