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170 as we have so many other relations before him, we feel our mission in Machias is completed. We have been a great help and comfort to poor Syringa during her hour of trial, and we both feel we have done the job heaven sent us to do, as well as we could. We are ready now, with clear consciences, to take up again our duties in Ridgefield, and we are coming back to poor Eunice just as soon as Syringa can arrange her affairs.

"For," the letter calmly announced, "we are bringing Syringa with us. She hasn't got any folks but us, and it isn't decent to leave her alone up here, even if her farm hadn't got to be sold for the taxes, which it has. She's the best worker I ever saw. Can do anything there is to do around a house (and barn, too, for that matter), understands nursing invalids from the ground up, and is one of the smartest washers and ironers I ever knew. Tell Reba to tell Mrs. O'Brien we won't need her to wash and iron any more for us after Syringa comes. Syringa's a find. No wages—and a little pension of her own, coming in every year, to dress on and for pin-money. Just her meals will be the only expense to you, David. Tell Reba to dismiss that foreigner she's got in the kitchen, and to get 'the girl's room' ready for Syringa. Reba will stay right in her own room, same as usual. Syringa is used to things plain and simple. Tell Eunice I'll wait and tell her about the funeral when we come. Joey made a nice looking corpse though, after they'd got his beard shaved and his hair trimmed right."

Reba skipped the rest of the details. Joey dead! Aunt Augusta coming back! Aunt Augusta coming back to 89 Chestnut Street! She raised her eyes and