His needle and thread moved more and more rapidly through the buttons and the leather.

At last he laid the shoe aside with an air of desperation, looked up defiantly, and said,-- "Mrs.Prency, I don't mean no offence, an' I ain't the kind of person that meddles with other people's business, an' I hope you won't feel hurt or angry at anythin' that I'm goin' to say to you, because there is somethin' behind it.

So I hope you won't think I'm meddlin' with your affairs, if you'll listen to me just a little while.

I--I--" "Well ?" said the lady, for Sam seemed to be hesitating about what he wanted to say.
"I don't hardly know how to say it, ma'am, an' I'm awfully afraid to say it at all; but--well, there, Mrs.Prency, I guess I know why you are so very much interested in the religious welfare of that young lawyer." The judge's wife had naturally a very good complexion, but her face flushed deeper as she looked inquiringly at the cobbler but said nothing.
"I've seen him," said Sam,--"I can't help seein' things when I'm goin' along in the street, you know, or happen to look out through the windows,--I've seen him in company once in a while with that daughter of yours, Mrs.Prency,--with that young lady that seems to me to be too good to talk to any young man that lives in this town.

He is very fond of her, though; nobody can help seein' that." "I suppose he is," said Mrs.Prency, with an embarrassed manner.