Her manner toward Emily and Thankful was cordial enough perhaps, but there was constraint in it and she asked a good many questions concerning her brother's hours of labor, what he did during the day, and the like.
"She acts awful queer, seems to me," said Thankful.

"Not the way she did at first at all.

In the beginnin' I had to plan pretty well to keep her from runnin' in and sp'ilin' my whole mornin' with her talk.

Now she seems to be keepin' out of my way.

What we've done to make her act so I can't see, and neither can Emily." Captain Bangs, to whom this remark was addressed, laughed.
"You ain't done anything, I guess," he said.