Obadiah was silent a space, and ground the heel of his bare foot into
the dirt.
"D'you know what's good fer warts?" he finally asked. Perez said he
did not. After a pause, Obadiah remarked critically:
"Them bricks roun' the top o' the chimly be kinder loose, bean't
they?" They were, and Perez freely admitted as much. Obadiah looked
around for some other topic of conversation, but apparently finding
none, he picked up a stone and asked with affected carelessness, as he
jerked it toward the barn:
"Be ye a gonter take George Fennell 'long with ye?"
"No," said Perez. "He will not live long, I fear, and he can't be
moved. I suppose some of the people will take him and Prudence in,
when we go."
Obadiah said nothing, but from the change which instantly came over
his manner, it was evident that the information obtained with such
superfluous diplomacy was a prodigious relief to his mind. The
officiousness with which he urged a handful of chestnuts on Perez, and
even offered to carry in the wood for him, might moreover be construed
as indicating a desire to make amends to him for unjust suspicions
secretly cherished. As for asking Prudence directly whether she was
expecting to go away, that would have been a piece of hardihood of
which the bashful youth was quite incapable.
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