“It’s about the same as it used to be,” declared Nabby. “Reminds me of that time just after his wife passed away, I mean. He sits around in the library all by himself, readin’ the paper and smokin’ his cigar. Smokes too much, he does, and I tell him so. Sometimes when I go in there, he won’t be readin’ at all; just settin’ in his big chair, puffin’ away, and lookin’ at nothin’. It makes me feel bad to see him so, but if I mention it he takes my head off. He is prouder than ever and touchier than ever. Cap’n Ben Snow comes to see him and so does the minister and some of the other folks, but, so far as I can make out, he don’t ever go to see them. About the most pitiful sight is to see him, early mornin’ afore breakfast, out mopin’ around the flower garden all alone. ’Bella--his wife, I mean--she set a lot of store by that garden and Esther set about as much. You’d almost think he’d keep away from it, think ’twould be the last place he’d want to see, but he’s there ’most every mornin’. He’s a queer man, and always was, but I know I never felt so sorry for anybody in all my days.... If I told that to anybody but you, Reliance, they’d laugh. They’d think bein’ sorry for Foster Townsend was about as silly as bein’ sorry for the Governor of Massachusetts--or--or the President of the Old Colony Railroad or somebody, wouldn’t they? “You know how I hate horse trottin’,” she went on, “but I do declare if I ain’t almost happy to see him takin’ an interest in it again. Yes, and he’s gettin’ back in politics some, too. They help to take up his mind, so I don’t complain, though I do wish some of them Selectmen and Represent’ives and Poundkeepers, or whatever they be, knew enough to wipe their boots when they come in on a decent, clean floor. Yes, horses and politics and that everlastin’ lawsuit and lawyers do a little to keep him busy. I don’t know how much the lawyers help, though; it does look to me as if they worried him as much as they helped lately. He used to love that lawsuit. I only hope nothin’s gone wrong with _that_.”