"So ye've j'ined the majority in this town, hev ye, Aileen? I don't say ez I'm blamin' anybody fer wantin' his pay; I'm jest sayin' it don't set well on me the way they go at it to get it. How's the quickest way to git up a war, eh? Jest keep talkin' it up--talkin' it up, an' it's sure to come. They don't give a man like Champ a chance--talkin' behind his back and usin' a good old Flamsted name ez ef 't wuz a mop rag!" Joel's indignation got the better of his discretion; his voice was so loud that it began to attract the attention of some men who were leaving Poggi's; the crowd was rapidly dispersing. "Sh--Joel! they'll hear you. You've been standing up for everything foreign that's come into this town for the last seven years--what's come over you that you're going back on all your preaching?" "I ain't goin' back on nothin'," the old man replied testily; "but a man's a man, I don't keer whether he's a Polack or a 'Merican--I don't keer nothin' 'bout thet; but ef he's a man he knows he'd oughter stop backbitin' and hittin' out behind another man's back--he'd oughter come out inter the open an' say, 'You ain't done the right thing by me, now let's both hev it out', instead of growlin' and grumblin' an' spittin' out such all-fired nonsense 'bout the syndicaters and Champ--what's Champ got to do with it, anyway? He can't make money for 'em." The crowds were surging past them; the men were talking together; their confused speech precluded the possibility of understanding what was said. "He's no better than other men, Uncle Jo," the girl remarked after the men had passed. She laughed as she spoke, but the laugh was not a pleasant one; it roused Octavius. "Now, look here, Aileen, you stop right where you are--" She interrupted him, and her voice was again both merry and pleasant, for they were directly opposite Luigi's shop: "I'm going to, Tave; I'm going to stop right here; Mrs. Champney sent me down on purpose to get some of those late peaches Luigi keeps; she said she craved them, and I'm going in this very minute to get them--" She waved her hand to both and entered the shop. Old Quimber caught Octavius by the arm to detain him a moment before he himself retraced his steps up street. "What d'ye think, Tave?--they goin' to make a match on't, she an' Poggi? I see 'm together a sight." "You can't tell 'bout Aileen any more'n a weather-cock. She might go farther and fare worse." "Thet's so, Tave; Poggi's a man, an' a credit to our town. I guess from all I hear Romanzo's 'bout give it up, ain't he?" "Romanzo never had a show with Aileen," Octavius said decidedly; "he ain't her kind."