68 THE QUESTION ANSWERED 



They were two old pensioners of the 

 squire's, two brothers that had worked in 

 the plantations in his father's time from 

 boys, and the squire had let them have a 

 little bit of ground on the sunny side of one 

 of the spinneys ; and there, under a couple of 

 ash-trees, they'd built a bit of an arbour on 

 the bank, where they used to sit every fine 

 day, after they'd hobbled about awhile on 

 their two sticks a-piece, and remind one ano- 

 ther of what they'd done in their day, and 

 what fine woods their work had grown into ; 

 and then they'd chuckle, and say, " Ah, 

 there'll be no more such seen," and so on. 



Well, the squire and his friend said 

 they'd go ; but I asked them to get quietly 

 through the spinney just to the back of their 

 arbour, and listen to them from there; for 

 'tis the hardest thing in life to "get a poor 

 man to speak what he thinks before what he 

 calls his betters : they always answer just as 

 they think they're wanted to do. When I got 

 up to them, I bid them a good morning, and 

 said, " Well, here you are, sunning yourselves 

 again this fine autumn day ; talking about 

 your woods, I suppose." " You may say 

 that," said Ben, "for they are something to 



