"Wall, wall, ma," said Grandpa, with an evident notion of continuing his
narration; "what now, ma?"
"I hope, pa," said Grandma, giving one the impression that she felt she
couldn't put the case too strongly; "that you are as innocent o' what
you've be'n a sayin' as the babe unborn, and to your credit, pa, I
believe you be!"
"Wall, wall, ma," said Grandpa, now mentally lost and bewildered; "I
guess I know what I'm talkin' about!"
"And if you do, pa," said Grandma, with a solemnity that was unutterably
conclusive; "you know more than I do!"
Then, while the women talked, Grandpa, sitting alone in the south door,
sighed and whittled, and abstractedly scanned the horizon. Once, he made
a singularly bold attempt to entice Aunt Patty again into the channels of
profane conversation, by an introductory speculation as to the prospect
of the bean crop; but Grandma Keeler nipped this reckless and irreverent
adventure in the bud, by replying in a calm, vast tone:--
"Pa, it r'aly seems to me that for a vain creetur in a fleetin' world,
and a perfessor besides, there'd ought to be more things to talk about
than beans!"
Grandpa Keeler sighed still more deeply, gazed wistfully towards the
barn, as though he would fain have shuffled out in that direction; but
the weather being so warm, he refrained.
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