Boys! Gracious king! Come on home with me." Jed smiled his slow smile.

"I don't mean real boys, Sam," he explained.

"I mean me--I'm the boys.

Nights now when I'm walkin' around in that house alone I meet myself comin' round every corner.
Me when I was five, comin' out of the buttery with a cooky in each fist; and me when I was ten sittin' studyin' my lesson book in the corner; and me when I was fifteen, just afore Father died, sittin' all alone thinkin' what I'd do when I went to Boston Tech same as he said he was cal'latin' to send me.

Then--" He paused and lapsed into one of his fits of musing.