`` What if father heard you ? '' `` Father would n't hear me if I shouted it in his ear , '' returned Eben . `` He goes around , these days , like a man in a dream and a mighty bad dream at that . Father has always been a good man . What 's the matter with him ? '' `` I do n't know , '' said Mollie , dropping her voice . `` Mother is dreadfully worried over him . And everybody is talking , Eb . It just makes me squirm . Flora Jane Fletcher asked me last night why father never testified , and him one of the elders . She said the minister was perplexed about it . I felt my face getting red . '' `` Why did n't you tell her it was no business of hers ? '' said Eben angrily . `` Old Flora Jane had better mind her own business . '' `` But all the folks are talking about it , Eb . And mother is fretting her heart out over it . Father has never acted like himself since these meetings began . He just goes there night after night , and sits like a mummy , with his head down . And almost everybody else in Avonlea has testified . ''
`` Oh , no , there 's lots have n't , '' said XXXXX .
Eb Eben Father Fletcher Jane Mollie Mother days mummy night