I judged so; the boys in this town will take more trouble and fool away
more time hunting up six bits worth of old iron to sell to the foundry
than they would to make twice the money at regular work. But that s
human nature hurry along, hurry along!
The boys wanted to know what the hurry was about.
Never mind; you ll see, when we get to the Widow Douglas .
Huck said with some apprehension for he was long used to being falsely
accused:
Mr. Jones, we haven t been doing nothing.
The Welshman laughed.
Well, I don t know, Huck, my boy. I don t know about that. Ain t you
and the widow good friends?
Yes. Well, she s ben good friends to me, anyway.
All right, then. What do you want to be afraid for?
This question was not entirely answered in Huck s slow mind before he
found himself pushed, along with Tom, into Mrs. Douglas drawing-room.
Mr. Jones left the wagon near the door and followed.
The place was grandly lighted, and everybody that was of any consequence
in the village was there. The Thatchers were there, the Harpers, the
Rogerses, Aunt Polly, Sid, Mary, the minister, the editor, and a great
many more, and all dressed in their best. The widow received the boys
as heartily as any one could well receive two such looking beings. They
were covered with clay and candle-grease. Aunt Polly blushed crimson
with humiliation, and frowned and shook her head at Tom. Nobody suffered
half as much as the two boys did, however. Mr. Jones said:
Tom wasn t at home, yet, so I gave him up; but I stumbled on him and
Huck right at my door, and so I just brought them along in a hurry.
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