him, by showing kindly sympathy with them in any sickness or trouble that came to them. To be sure, he insisted upon a full day's work for full pay and called them to account sharply for time stolen from their work. He was rather astonished to find how easy it was to gain their allegiance and to overcome their feeling of superstitious loyalty to Mam' Peachy. What she commanded was no longer looked upon as law, to be obeyed willy-nilly. Old Abe had given up going to his mother for orders, and the younger generations kept away from her as much as possible. Her room, which was in the L behind the kitchen, was not besieged by old and young in search of charms for ailments as had been the case before Mr. Philip returned.
Young Abe's toothache had been the crucial test for the potency of the new regime at The Hedges. He had already given Mam' Peachy's charm poultice a fair trial, and when the young master had kindly asked to look at the tooth and had immediately injected something into the gum that sent a pleasing numbness through the suffering jaw, and then with no more ado than pulling out a splinter had deftly extracted the offending molar, absolutely without pain, Young Abe was sure Mr. Philip was a better charm worker than Aunt Peachy.
