"The difficulty o' all things in this world," Miss Clegg went on promptly, "is 't if you have any brains a _tall_ you 're bound to have so much work for 'em. Now, this findin' o' Cousin Marion no doubt looks simple enough to you 'n' the world in general, 'n' yet the more I turn her up 'n' down 'n' inside out the more new lights I get. When you come to consider 't I only found the letter this mornin', 'n' that it ain't supper-time yet, you c'n easy see 's my day's been more 'n full o' brain-work. Comin' up the street this afternoon, the question o' the possibility o' Cousin Marion's bein' poor come into my mind. I c'n speak out freely to you, Mrs. Lathrop, 'n' so I will remark 't I c'n guarantee 's father never give her nothin' o' late years, 'n' 'f she's poor it don't take no eagle eye to know jus' what'll happen when she gets my letter. 'F the letter hadn't been posted 'n' the sack gone to the train afore I thought o' this view o' the matter, I'm free to confess 's I never would 'a' posted it a _tall_. For there's no use denyin', Mrs. Lathrop, 't, 'f my visit to Cousin Marion sh'd lead to her askin' to borrow 's much 's a quarter, I sh'll bitterly regret ever havin' clawed her out from back o' that trunk-flap. There ain't no possible good 's c'n ever come o' lendin' money to them's ain't able to pay it back, 'n' I learned that lesson to my bitter cost once 'n' for all time when I had that little business with Sam Duruy. That took all the likin' to lend out o' me, 'n' Heaven help me 'f I ever forget it. I thought I was so safe, Mrs. Lathrop,--I looked in all four o' his hoofs, 'n' swished my handkerchief in each o' his eyes, 'n' he was certainly lively, so I planked down my little five dollars 'n' Sam was to keep on drivin' the horse. Well, you know 's well 's I do what happened, 'n' the skin brought seventy-five cents. Sam sued the railroad, 'n' the railroad asked why he did n't read the 'Look out for the Locomotive.' I told him to go into court 'n' swear 's he could n't read, but he said Judge Fitch used to be his school-teacher 'n' knowed 's he could. 'N' then I offered to go to court myself 'n' swear on the Bible 's the whole town looked on him 's more 'n half a idiot, 'n' Mr. Duruy jus' sat right flat down on the whole thing. So they did n't even pay his lawyer, 'n' it goes without sayin' 't o' course he could n't pay me; 'n' then, do you know, Mrs. Lathrop, 'f he did n't have the impudence this very afternoon to stop me down in the square 'n' ask me 'f I would n't lend him ten cents on a rooster! I was pretty nigh to put out over that, I c'n assure you. I mus' 'a' stared at him f'r 's much 's ten seconds afore I sensed 't he was really fool enough to think 't mebbe I was fool enough too. 'N' then I let out at him. 'Not while I have the breath o' life in my body,' I says,--'n' it shook 's I said it,--'not 'f I know my own mind. What's to guarantee me,' I says, ''s your rooster won't take it into his head to go