The boarding house plan must stand or fall according to Mr.Cobb's reception of it.
"No, no," she said, hastily.

"It ain't anything important--that is, very important." "Well, all right.

You see--I only meant--excuse me, Mrs.Barnes.I hope you don't think I meant to be nosey or interferin' in your affairs." "Of course I don't.

You've gone to a lot of trouble on my account as 'tis, and you've been real kind." The captain hurriedly muttered that he hadn't been kind at all and watched her as she walked up the short path to Mr.Cobb's front door.
Then, with a solemn shake of the head, he clinched again at the wagon seat and drove across the road to the hitching-posts before the store.
Thankful opened the door of the "henhouse" and entered.
The interior of the little building was no mare inviting than its outside.

One room, dark, with a bare floor, and with cracked plastered walls upon which a few calendars and an ancient map were hanging.