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24 Tom, and led the way by a side path to the Widow Taylor's cottage. This was a short cut, but Aleck would not take it, because of the briar bushes and the dust. As the boys were in their knockaround suits they did not mind this.

The widow's cottage was a tumbled-down affair on a side street of Dexter's Corners. A stovepipe stuck out of a back window, and the front door lacked the lower hinge. In the front yard the weeds were several feet high.

"I don't see why Aleck wants to come and see such a person as this," observed Sam. "She may be pretty, as colored widows go, but she is certainly lazy and shiftless."

"Yes, and she has more than two children and I know it. Why, once I came past here and I saw her with at least seven or eight."

When the boys came up they saw several colored children hurrying away from the house. As they did this the widow came to the door and called after them:

"Now, Arabella, go to the cemetery, jest as I tole yo', an' stay thar!"

"I ain't gwine to stay long," answered Arabella.

"You stay an hour or two," answered the widow. "To-morrow, I'll give yo' money fer lolly-pops."