She had on a sun-bonnet, which had not prevented her from securing a
few choice freckles. She had been working with a trowel in her
flower-garden.
"What's the matter?" she said, nodding easily to Eph. "What do you two
always find to laugh about?"
"Ephraim was feeding me with spoon-meat," said Aunt Lyddy, pointing to
the basket, which looked like a basket of anthracite coal.
"It looks like spoon-meat," said Susan, and then she laughed too. "I'll
roast some of them for supper," she added, "a new way that I know."
Eph was not invited to stay to supper, but he stayed, none the less:
that was always understood.
"Well! Well! Well!" said Joshua, coming to the door-step, and washing
his hands and arms just outside, in a tin basin. "I thought I see you
set down a parcel of oysters--but there was seaweed over 'em, and I don'
know's I could hev said they was oysters; but then, if the square
question hed been put to me, 'Mr. Carr, be them oysters or not?' I
s'pose I should hev said they was; still, if they'd asked me how I
knew--"
"Come, come, father!" said Aunt Lyddy, "do give poor Ephraim a little
peace. Why don't you just say you thought they were oysters, and done
with it?"
"Say I _thought_ they was?" he replied, innocently. "I knew well enough
they was--that is--knew? No, I didn't know, but--"
Aunt Lyddy, with an air of mock resignation, gave up, while Joshua
endeavored to fix, to a hair, the exact extent of his knowledge.
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