Westerfelt

been in to sew on the glaring, varicolored square. All day long they had thrust their needles up and down and gossiped in their slow,

ing by invisible paths in the near-by wood. The two sisters had taken the finished quilt from its wooden frame, and wer

to beat it. Folks talks mightily about Mis' Lithicum's last one, but I never did have any use fer yaller buff, splice

had a small, wrinkled face, thin, gray hair, and a decided stoop. Some people said she had acquired the stoop in bending so constantly over her husband's bed during his last protracted illness. Others affirmed that her sister was slowly nagging the life out of her, and simp

Mrs. Slogan, when she

answered Mrs. Dawson. "I r

ept 'er more at home thar never would 'a' been the talk that's now goin' about an' makin' you an' her the laughin'-stock of the settlement. I to

flowers as usual. I swear I never seed the like. That gal certainly takes the rag off'n the bush. I believe she'd let 'possum an' taters git cold

gan, with undisguised s

sterfelt is goin' with

zz

when they are a-tradin'. Lord, sometimes I lie awake at night thinkin' what a good time I mought 'a' had an' what I mought 'a' run across ef I hadn't been in sech a blamed fool hur

fool," snort

got to do wit

s. Dawson. "I hee

nversation entered the room from the passage which connected the two parts of the house

she took off her sun-bonnet and stood in the centre of the room, holding

o Lizzie Lithicum like a house afire. I don't know but I'm glad of it, too, fer I've told you time an' time agin that he

her mother seemed to have resigned her to the rude method of awakening which suited her sister's heartless mood. At first it looked as if Sally were going to ignore the thrust, but they s

y. "I don't believe it. I wouldn't believe it was

Slogan; "after all the advic

in' a ride in his new hug-me-tight buggy yesterday. She's been off to Cartersville, you know, an' has come back with dead loads o' finery. They say she's l'arned to play 'Dixie' on a pyanner an' reads a new novel every week. Ab's awfully tickled abou

e of 'em, but when Liz gits 'er head set she cuts a wide swathe an' never strike

to conviction. When she spoke her voice had lost its ring of def

gy, Uncle Peter," she asked,

ed to realize the force of the blow he

ntly as she stooped to put her s

Lithicum's as big a fool as yore mother was in not callin' a halt. Jest let a man have a little property, an' be a peg or two higher as to family connections, an' he kin ride dry-shod over a whole community. He's goin' thar to-night. Mis' Simpkins wa

tel-piece. There was an empty vase half filled with water, and into it she tried to place the stems, but they seemed hard to manage in her quivering

are satisfied," said

hain't one bit o

looked up regretfully, and then with downcas

e," said Mrs. Slogan. "She ort to

ows the child's had enough to worry 'er, anyway. She's been troubled fer the last w

awson did not appear, so the meal passed in unusual silence. The Slogans ate with their habitual zes

aw her go through the passage and step down into the yard. Rising quickly, Mrs. Dawson went

hin voice cracking on its too high key,

her to approach through the half-darkn

ar have yo

not move as

e, moth

he girl's arm. "Sally, you are not a-tellin' me the

at if I a

ettin' any triflin' man know I was that bad off-

nd her eyes bore down desperate

don't know what you'd d

not, dar

me to him with it, and I said I would. Maybe Aunt Clarissa is right about Lizzie an' him, but I've got

with you, Sally, if you

ody has any right to hear w

ron to her eyes as if some inward emotion had pro

unt fer devilin' you so much, right now when you are troubled. I'll tell

dn't care if it was printed in every paper in the State. If he don't love me, I won't care for nothin'

geable. You see, he has treated other gals the same way. Sally, you must be brave, an' not let on. Why, thar was Mattie Logan-jest look at he

me?" she said, fiercely. "I'm not her, and she'

e one inch till you come back, Sally. If you wait too long, though, I'll come

p and waited. After a few minutes she heard the heat of a horse's hoofs on the clay road, and when it ceased she knew her child was demanding and learning her fate. Fifteen minutes passed. The beat of hoofs was resumed, and soon

Sally; what

esperate glare in her eyes that had never been in eyes more y

she said, under her b

mitted he had an engag

th me. He's jest tired

uch a fool, but it's

y, so sharp was her own pain, but she

at Hill's? Well, she never had nothin' much to occupy 'er mind with durin' the day, an' she used to take 'er fancy-work an' set in the shady holler at the gum spring, whar yore pa went to water his hoss. Of course, she never keerd a cent fer him, but I reckon to pass the time away she got to makin' eyes at him. Anyway, it driv' 'im plumb crazy. I never knowed about it till the summer was mighty nigh over, an' I wouldn't 'a' diskivered it then if I hadn't 'a' noticed that he had made powerful little headway ploughin' in the field whar he claimed to be at work. She wasn't a bad woman. I give 'er credit fer that, an' I reckon she never talked to 'im many times, an' never thought of him except to laugh at him af

d them frogs down there croaking, too, and the chickens fluttering on their roosts. I hear

ther's eyes for a moment,

baby. It went on till he got sick, an' many an' many a day he'd lie thar helpless an' look out towards the cow-lot, wistful like, an' I knowed he was thinkin' o' that pictur'. He was lookin' that way when he drawed his last breath. It may 'a' been jest a notion o' mine, fer some said he was unconscious all that day, but it looked that away to me. I nussed him through his sickness as well as I could, an' attended to every wish he had till he passed away.

ite. Mrs. Dawson got up anxiously, and together they passed through the gate. They could

an Mrs. Dawson, but

said, impatiently. "I want to be quiet

ing heart she saw the stricken child of her br

" asked Mrs. Slog

e'ch o' yore tongue," sai

not reply, but it evoked an amused

rely try to do that afo

' tuck a train ef se

placed it on the old-fashioned bureau, from which the mahogany veneering had been peeling for years. Her coarse shoes rang harshly on the s

o' comfort! My God, ef some'n' ain't done to relieve Sally I'll go stark crazy, an'-an'-I could kill 'im in cold

by she's prayin'. That's railly what I ort to be a-doin' instead o' standin' heer tryin' to work out what's impossible fer any mortal. I reckon ef a body jest would have enough faith-but I did have faith till-till it quit do

d knelt down in the darkness,

amily is enough, in all reason. I stood mine, bein' a ol' woman, but Sally, she'll jest pine away an' die, fer she had all her heart set on that one man. Oh, God Almighty, my Redeemer, you that forgive the dyin' thief an' begged fer help in yore own agony, let this cup pass. Huh! I'd ruther have 'em stick a speer through my side time an' time agin 'an have it go on with Sally like it is. You'd better do what I ask, fer it's makin' a reg'lar devil ou

ar Slogan and his wife, now barefooted, thumping about in the next room. Far away a