Oh, so beautiful. I especially loved Aberforth's odd -- Yorkshire? -- dialecties -- " he'd come up in a spiteful house," "This time of morning there was no getting any fancier than a good tug and rub," "Can't say his soul's clean on that one."
And funny! -- "so regular that Aberforth set his week by him."
Here's the nut, eh? "If nothing else, it had made Aberforth a fair hand at mending." He's mending all along here, and in a big way at the end. This is so cleverly constructed, Mystery Writer, and beautifully written.