One consideration kept him from leaving
Eastborough; he knew that if he did so the singing-master would claim
that he had driven him out of town, and although he had a hearty
contempt for the man, he was too high spirited to leave town and give
the people any reason to think that Strout's antipathy to him had
anything to do with it.
Finally a bright idea struck him. Why hadn't he thought of it before? He
would go and see Uncle Ike, state the case frankly and ask him to let
him live with him for a month. He could bunk in the kitchen, and he
preferred Uncle Ike's conversation to that of any other of the male sex
whom he had met in Eastborough. With this idea firmly fixed in his mind
he retired and slept peacefully.
While Quincy was debating with himself and coming to the conclusion
previously mentioned, another conversation, in which his name often
occurred, took place in Deacon Mason's kitchen.
The old couple were seated by the old-fashioned fireplace, in which a
wood fire was burning. The stove had superseded the hanging crane and
the tin oven for cooking purposes, but Deacon Mason clung to the
old-fashioned fireplace for heat and light.
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