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author: nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> 2025-03-03 05:20:30 -0800
committer: nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> 2025-03-03 05:20:30 -0800
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+<body>
+<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 37551 ***</div>
+<div class="document" id="ann-boyd">
+<h1 class="document-title level-1 pfirst title">Ann Boyd</h1>
+</div>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<div class="container" id="pg-produced-by">
+<p class="noindent pfirst">Produced by Roger Frank, Mary Meehan, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at <a class="reference external" href="http://www.pgdp.net">http://www.pgdp.net</a>.</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em">
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="align-center auto-scaled figure" style="margin-left: 22%; width: 55%" id="figure-3">
+<img style="display: block; width: 100%" alt="images/cover.jpg" src="images/cover.jpg" width="100%"/>
+</div>
+<div class="center line-block noindent outermost x-large">
+<div class="line">A Novel</div>
+<div class="line">By</div>
+<div class="line">Will N. Harben</div>
+</div>
+<div class="center line-block noindent outermost x-large">
+<div class="line">Author of</div>
+<div class="line">"Abner Daniel" "Pole Baker"</div>
+<div class="line">"The Georgians" etc.</div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+<div class="line">New York and London</div>
+<div class="line">Harper &amp; Brothers Publishers</div>
+<div class="line">1906</div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+<div class="line">Copyright, 1906, by <span class="small-caps">Harper &amp; Brothers</span>.</div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+<div class="line"><em class="italics">All rights reserved.</em></div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+<div class="line">Published September, 1906.</div>
+</div>
+<hr class="docutils"/>
+<div class="center line-block noindent outermost x-large">
+<div class="line">To</div>
+<div class="line">William Dean Howells</div>
+</div>
+<hr class="docutils"/>
+<div class="align-center auto-scaled figure" style="margin-left: 30%; width: 40%" id="figure-4">
+<img style="display: block; width: 100%" alt="'I RECKON IT WAS THE DIVINE INTENTION FOR ME AND YOU TO HAVE THIS SECRET BETWEEN US'" src="images/illus1.jpg" width="100%"/>
+<div class="caption italics">
+'I RECKON IT WAS THE DIVINE INTENTION FOR ME AND YOU TO HAVE THIS SECRET BETWEEN US'</div>
+</div>
+<hr class="docutils"/>
+<div class="contents level-2 section" id="id1">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title">CONTENTS</h2>
+<ul class="compact simple toc-list">
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#i" id="id2">I</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#ii" id="id3">II</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#iii" id="id4">III</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#iv" id="id5">IV</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#v" id="id6">V</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#vi" id="id7">VI</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#vii" id="id8">VII</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#viii" id="id9">VIII</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#ix" id="id10">IX</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#x" id="id11">X</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#xi" id="id12">XI</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#xii" id="id13">XII</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#xiii" id="id14">XIII</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#xiv" id="id15">XIV</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#xv" id="id16">XV</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#xvi" id="id17">XVI</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#xvii" id="id18">XVII</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#xviii" id="id19">XVIII</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#xix" id="id20">XIX</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#xx" id="id21">XX</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#xxi" id="id22">XXI</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#xxii" id="id23">XXII</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#xxiii" id="id24">XXIII</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#xxiv" id="id25">XXIV</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#xxv" id="id26">XXV</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#xxvi" id="id27">XXVI</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#xxvii" id="id28">XXVII</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#xxviii" id="id29">XXVIII</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#xxix" id="id30">XXIX</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#xxx" id="id31">XXX</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#xxxi" id="id32">XXXI</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#xxxii" id="id33">XXXII</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#xxxiii" id="id34">XXXIII</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#xxxiv" id="id35">XXXIV</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#xxxv" id="id36">XXXV</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#xxxvi" id="id37">XXXVI</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#xxxvii" id="id38">XXXVII</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#xxxviii" id="id39">XXXVIII</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#xxxix" id="id40">XXXIX</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#xl" id="id41">XL</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#xli" id="id42">XLI</a></span></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#xlii" id="id43">XLII</a></span></li>
+</ul>
+</div>
+<hr class="docutils"/>
+<p class="center pfirst x-large">Ann Boyd</p>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="i">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id2">I</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">Ann Boyd Stood at the open door of
+her corn-house, a square, one-storied
+hut made of the trunks of young pine-trees,
+the bark of which, being worm-eaten,
+was crumbling from the smooth
+hard-wood. She had a tin pail on her arm, and was
+selecting "nubbins" for her cow from the great
+heap of husked corn which, like a mound of golden
+nuggets, lay within. The strong-jawed animal could
+crunch the dwarfed ears, grain and corn together,
+when they were stirred into a mush made of wheat-bran
+and dish-water.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Boyd, although past fifty, showed certain
+signs of having been a good-looking woman. Her
+features were regular, but her once slight and erect
+figure was now heavy, and bent as if from toil.
+Her hair, which in her youth had been a luxuriant
+golden brown, was now thinner and liberally streaked
+with gray. From her eyes deep wrinkles diverged,
+and the corners of her firm mouth were
+drawn downward. Her face, even in repose, wore
+an almost constant frown, and this habit had deeply
+gashed her forehead with lines that deepened when
+she was angry.</p>
+<p class="pnext">With her pail on her arm, she was turning back
+towards her cottage, which stood about a hundred
+yards to the right, beneath the shade of two giant
+oaks, when she heard her name called from the
+main-travelled road, which led past her farm, on
+to Darley, ten miles away.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, it's you, Mrs. Waycroft!" she exclaimed,
+without change of countenance, as the head and
+shoulders of a neighbor appeared above the rail-fence.
+"I couldn't imagine who it was calling me."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, it was me," the woman said, as Mrs. Boyd
+reached the fence and rested her pail on the top
+rail. "I hain't seed you since I seed you at church,
+Sunday. I tried to get over yesterday, but was too
+busy with one thing and another."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I reckon you have had your hands full planting
+cotton," said Mrs. Boyd. "I didn't expect you; besides,
+I've had all I could do in my own field."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, my boys have been hard at it," said Mrs.
+Waycroft. "I don't go to the field myself, like you
+do. I reckon I ain't hardy enough, but keeping
+things for them to eat and the house in order takes
+all my time."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I reckon," said Mrs. Boyd, studying the woman's
+face closely under the faded black poke-bonnet—"I
+reckon you've got something to tell me. You generally
+have. I wish I could not care a snap of the
+finger what folks say, but I'm only a natural woman.
+I want to hear things sometimes when I know they
+will make me so mad that I won't eat a bite for
+days."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Waycroft looked down at the ground.
+"Well," she began, "I reckon you know thar
+would be considerable talk after what happened
+at meeting Sunday. You know a thing like that
+naturally <em class="italics">would</em> stir up a quiet community like
+this."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, when I think of it I can see there would
+be enough said, but I'm used to being the chief
+subject of idle talk. I've had twenty odd years
+of it, Mary Waycroft, though this public row was
+rather unexpected. I didn't look for abuse from
+the very pulpit in God's house, if it <em class="italics">is</em> His. I
+didn't know you were there. I didn't know a
+friendly soul was nigh."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, I was there clean through from the opening
+hymn. A bolt from heaven on a sunny day
+couldn't have astonished me more than I was when
+you come in and walked straight up the middle
+aisle, and sat down just as if you'd been coming
+there regular for all them years. I reckon you
+had your own private reasons for making the
+break."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, I did." The wrinkled mouth of the
+speaker twitched nervously. "I'd been thinking
+it out, Mrs. Waycroft, for a long time and trying
+to pray over it, and at last I come to the conclusion
+that if I didn't go to church like the rest,
+it was an open admission that I acknowledged
+myself worse than others, and so I determined to
+go—I determined to go if it killed me."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And to think you was rewarded that way!"
+answered Mrs. Waycroft; "it's a shame! Ann
+Boyd, it's a dirty shame!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It will be a long time before I darken a church
+door again," said Mrs. Boyd. "If I'm ever seen
+there it will be after I'm dead and they take me
+there feet foremost to preach over my body. I
+didn't look around, but I knew they were all whispering
+about me."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You never saw the like in your life, Ann," the
+visitor said. "Heads were bumping together to
+the damagement of new spring hats, and everybody
+was asking what it meant. Some said that,
+after meeting, you was going up and give your
+hand to Brother Bazemore and ask him to take
+you back, as a member, but he evidently didn't
+think you had a purpose like that, or he wouldn't
+have opened up on you as he did. Of course,
+everybody thar knowed he was hitting at you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh yes, they all knew, and he had no reason
+for thinking I wanted to ask any favor, for he
+knows too well what I think of him. He hates the
+ground I walk on. He has been openly against
+me ever since he come to my house and asked me
+to let the Sunday-school picnic at my spring and
+in my grove. I reckon I gave it to him pretty
+heavy that day, for all I'd been hearing about
+what he had had to say of me had made me mad.
+I let him get out his proposal as politely as such
+a sneaking man could, and then I showed him
+where I stood. Here, Mrs. Waycroft, I've been
+treated like a dog and an outcast by every member
+of his church for the last twenty years, called
+the vilest names a woman ever bore by his so-called
+Christian gang, and then, when they want
+something I've got—something that nobody else
+can furnish quite as suitable for their purpose—why
+he saunters over to my house holding the skirts
+of his long coat as if afraid of contamination, and
+calmly demands the use of my property—property
+that I've slaved in the hot sun and sleet and rain
+to pay for with hard work. Oh, I was mad! You
+see, that was too much, and I reckon he never in
+all his life got such a tongue-lashing. When I came
+in last Sunday and sat down, I saw his eyes flash,
+and knew if he got half an excuse he would let out
+on me. I was sorry I'd come then, but there was
+no backing out after I'd got there."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"When he took his text I knew he meant it for
+you," said the other woman. "I have never seen
+a madder man in the pulpit, never in my life.
+While he was talking, he never once looked at
+you, though he knew everybody else was doing
+nothing else. Then I seed you rise to your feet.
+He stopped to take a drink from his goblet, and
+you could 'a' heard a pin fall, it was so still. I
+reckon the rest thought like I did, that you was
+going right up to him and pull his hair or slap his
+jaws. You looked like you hardly knowed what
+you was doing, and, for one, I tuck a free breath
+when you walked straight out of the house. What
+you did was exactly right, as most fair-minded
+folks will admit, though I'm here to tell you, my
+friend, that you won't find fair-minded folks very
+plentiful hereabouts. The fair-minded ones are
+over there in that graveyard."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Boyd stroked her quivering lips with her
+hard, brown hand, and said, softly: "I wasn't
+going to sit there and listen to any more of it. I'd
+thrown aside pride and principle and gone to do
+my duty to my religion, as I saw it, and thought
+maybe some of them—one or two, at least—would
+meet me part of the way, but I couldn't listen to
+a two hours' tirade about me and my—my misfortune.
+If I'd stayed any longer, I'd have spoken
+back to him, and that would have been exactly
+what he and some of the rest would have wanted,
+for then they could have made a case against me
+in court for disturbing public worship, and imposed
+a heavy fine. They can't bear to think
+that, in spite of all their persecution, I've gone
+ahead and paid my debts and prospered in a way
+that they never could do with all their sanctimony."</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was silence for a moment. A gentle
+breeze stirred the leaves of the trees and the blades
+of long grass beside the road. There was a far-away
+tinkling of cow and sheep bells in the lush-green
+pastures which stretched out towards the
+frowning mountain against which the setting sun
+was levelling its rays.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You say you haven't seen anybody since Sunday,"
+remarked the loitering woman, in restrained,
+tentative tones.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, I've been right here. Why did you ask
+me that?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, you see, Ann," was the slow answer,
+"talking at the rate Bazemore was to your face,
+don't you think it would be natural for him to—to
+sort o' rub it on even heavier behind your back,
+after you got up that way and went out so sudden."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I never thought of it, but I can see now that
+it would be just like him." Mrs. Boyd took a deep
+breath and lowered her pail to the ground. "Yes,"
+she went on, reflectively, as she drew herself up
+again and leaned on the fence, "I reckon he got
+good and mad when I got up and left."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Huh!" The other woman smiled. "He was
+so mad he could hardly speak. He fairly gulped,
+his eyes flashed, and he was as white as a bunch
+of cotton. He poured out another goblet of water
+that he had no idea of drinking, and his hand
+shook so much that the glass tinkled like a bell
+against the mouth of the pitcher. You must have
+got as far as the hitching-rack before his fury
+busted out. I reckon what he said was the most
+unbecoming thing that a stout, able-bodied man
+ever hurled at a defenceless woman's back."</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was another pause. Mrs. Boyd's expectant
+face was as hard as stone; her dark-gray
+eyes were two burning fires in their shadowy
+orbits.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What did he say?" she asked. "You might
+as well tell me."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Waycroft avoided her companion's fierce
+stare. "He looked down at the place where you
+sat, Ann, right steady for a minute, then he said:
+'I'm glad that woman had the common decency
+to sit on a seat by herself while she was here; but
+I hope when meeting is over that some of you
+brethren will take the bench out in the woods and
+burn it. I'll pay for a new one out of my own
+pocket.'"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh!" The exclamation seemed wrung from her
+when off her guard, and Mrs. Boyd clutched the
+rail of the fence so tightly that her strong nails
+sunk into the soft wood. "He said <em class="italics">that</em>! He
+said that <em class="italics">about me</em>!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, and he ought to have been ashamed of
+himself," said Mrs. Waycroft; "and if he had been
+anything else than a preacher, surely some of the
+men there—men you have befriended—would not
+have set still and let it pass."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But they <em class="italics">did</em> let it pass," said Mrs. Boyd, bitterly;
+"they did let it pass, one and all."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh yes, nobody would dare, in this section, to
+criticise a preacher," said the other. "What any
+little, spindle-legged parson says goes the same
+as the word of God out here in the backwoods.
+I'd have left the church myself, but I knowed
+you'd want to hear what was said; besides, they
+all know I'm your friend."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, they all know you are the only white
+woman that ever comes near me. But what else
+did he say?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, he had lots to say. He said he hadn't
+mentioned no names, but it was always the hit dog
+that yelped, and that you had made yourself a
+target by leaving as you did. He went on to say
+that, in his opinion, all that was proved at court
+against you away back there was just. He said
+some folks misunderstood Scripture when it come
+to deal with your sort and stripe. He said some
+argued that a church door ought always to be
+wide open to any sinner whatsoever, but that in
+your daily conduct of holding every coin so tight
+that the eagle on it squeals, and in giving nothing
+to send the Bible to the heathens, and being
+eternally at strife with your neighbors, you had
+showed, he said, that no good influence could be
+brought to bear on you, and that people who was
+really trying to live upright lives ought to shun
+you like they would a catching disease. He
+'lowed you'd had the same Christian chance in
+your bringing-up, and a better education than
+most gals, and had deliberately throwed it all up
+and gone your headstrong way. In his opinion,
+it would be wrong to condone your past, and tell
+folks you stood an equal chance with the rising
+generation fetched up under the rod and Biblical
+injunction by parents who knowed what lasting
+scars the fires of sin could burn in a living soul.
+He said the community had treated you right, in
+sloughing away from you, ever since you was found
+out, because you had never showed a minute's open
+repentance. You'd helt your head, he thought,
+if possible, higher than ever, and in not receiving
+the social sanction of your neighbors, it looked like
+you was determined to become the richest woman
+in the state for no other reason than to prove that
+wrong prospered."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The speaker paused in her recital. The listener,
+her face set and dark with fury, glanced towards
+the cottage. "Come in," she said, huskily; "people
+might pass along and know what we are talking
+about, and, somehow, I don't want to give
+them that satisfaction."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That's a fact," said Mrs. Waycroft; "they say
+I fetch you every bit of gossip, anyway. A few
+have quit speaking to me. Bazemore would himself,
+if he didn't look to me once a month for my
+contribution. I hope what I've told you won't
+upset you, Ann, but you always say you want to
+know what's going on. It struck me that the
+whole congregation was about the most heartless
+body of human beings I ever saw packed together
+in one bunch."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I want you to tell me one other thing," said
+Mrs. Boyd, tensely, as they were entering the front
+doorway of the cottage—"was Jane Hemingway
+there?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh yes, by a large majority. I forgot to tell
+you about her. I had my eyes on her, too, for I
+knowed it would tickle her nigh to death, and it
+did. When you left she actually giggled out loud
+and turned back an' whispered to the Mayfield
+girls. Her old, yellow face fairly shone, she was
+that glad, and when Bazemore went on talking
+about you and burning that bench, she fairly
+doubled up, with her handkerchief clapped over
+her mouth."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Boyd drew a stiff-backed chair from beneath
+the dining-table and pushed it towards her guest.
+"There is not in hell itself, Mary Waycroft, a
+hatred stronger than I feel right now for that
+woman. She is a fiend in human shape. That
+miserable creature has hounded me every minute
+since we were girls together. As God is my judge,
+I believe I could kill her and not suffer remorse.
+There was a time when my disposition was as sweet
+and gentle as any girl's, but she changed it. She
+has made me what I am. She is responsible for it
+all. I might have gone on—after my—my misfortune,
+and lived in some sort of harmony with my
+kind if it hadn't been for her."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I know that," said the other woman, as she sat
+down and folded her cloth bonnet in her thin hands.
+"I really believe you'd have been a different woman,
+as you say, after—after your trouble if she had
+let you alone."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Boyd seated herself in another chair near
+the open door, and looked out at a flock of chickens
+and ducks which had gathered at the step and were
+noisily clamoring for food.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I saw two things that made my blood boil as
+I was leaving the church," said she. "I saw Abe
+Longley, who has been using my pasture for his
+cattle free of charge for the last ten years. I caught
+sight of his face, and it made me mad to think he'd
+sit there and never say a word in defence of the
+woman he'd been using all that time; and then I
+saw George Wilson, just as indifferent, near the door,
+when I've been favoring him and his shabby store
+with all my trade when I could have done better
+by going on to Darley. I reckon neither of those
+two men said the slightest thing when Bazemore
+advised the—the burning of the bench I'd sat
+on."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh no, of course not!" said Mrs. Waycroft,
+"nobody said a word. They wouldn't have dared,
+Ann."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, they will both hear from me," said Mrs.
+Boyd, "and in a way that they won't forget soon.
+I tell you, Mary Waycroft, this thing has reached
+a climax. That burning bench is going to be my
+war-torch. They say I've been at strife with my
+neighbors all along; well, they'll see now. I struggled
+and struggled with pride to get up to the point
+of going to church again, and that's the reception I
+got."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It's a pity to entertain hard feelings, but I
+don't blame you a single bit," said Mrs. Waycroft,
+sympathetically. "As I look at it, you have done
+all you can to live in harmony, and they simply
+won't have it. They might be different if it wasn't
+for that meddlesome old Jane Hemingway. She
+keeps them stirred up. She and her daughter is
+half starving to death, while you—" Mrs. Waycroft
+glanced round the room at the warm rag
+carpet of many colors, at the neat fire-screen made
+of newspaper pictures pasted on a crude frame of
+wood, and, higher, to the mantel-piece, whose sole
+ornament was a Seth Thomas clock, with the Tower
+of London in glaring colors on the glass door—"while
+you don't ask anybody any odds. Instead
+of starving, gold dollars seem to roll up to your
+door of their own accord and fall in a heap. They
+tell me even that cotton factory which you invested
+in, and which Mrs. Hemingway said had busted and
+gone up the spout, is really doing well."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"The stock has doubled in value," said Mrs.
+Boyd, simply. "I don't know how to account for
+my making money. I reckon it's simply good
+judgment and a habit of throwing nothing away.
+The factory got to a pretty low ebb, and the people
+lost faith in it, and were offering their stock at half-price.
+My judgment told me it would pull through
+as soon as times improved, and I bought an interest
+in it at a low figure. I was right; it proved to be
+a fine investment."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I was sorter sorry for Virginia Hemingway,
+Sunday," said Mrs. Waycroft. "When her mother
+was making such an exhibition of herself in gloating
+over the way you was treated, the poor girl
+looked like she was ashamed, and pulled Jane's
+apron like she was trying to keep her quiet. I
+reckon you hain't got nothing against the girl,
+Ann?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Nothing except that she is that devilish woman's
+offspring," said Mrs. Boyd. "It's hard to dislike
+her; she's pretty—by all odds the prettiest and
+sweetest-looking young woman in this county.
+Her mother in her prime never saw the day she
+was anything like her. They say Virginia isn't
+much of a hand to gossip and abuse folks. I
+reckon her mother's ways have disgusted her."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I reckon that's it," said the other woman, as
+she rose to go. "I know I love to look at her;
+she does my old eyes good. At meeting I sometimes
+gaze steady at her for several minutes on a
+stretch. Sitting beside that hard, crabbed old
+thing, the girl certainly does look out of place.
+She deserves a better fate than to be tied to such
+a woman. I reckon she'll be picked up pretty soon
+by some of these young men—that is, if Jane will
+give her any sort of showing. Jane is so suspicious
+of folks that she hardly lets Virginia out of her
+sight. Well, I must be going. Since my husband's
+death I've had my hands full on the farm; he did
+a lots to help out, even about the kitchen. Good-bye.
+I can see what I've said has made a change
+in you, Ann. I never saw you look quite so different."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, the whole thing has kind o' jerked me
+round," replied Mrs. Boyd. "I've taken entirely
+too much off of these people—let them run over me
+dry-shod; but I'll show them a thing or two. They
+won't let me live in peace, and now they can try
+the other thing." And Ann Boyd stood in the
+doorway and watched the visitor trudge slowly
+away.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes," she mused, as she looked out into the
+falling dusk, "they are trying to drive me to the
+wall with their sneers and lashing tongues. But
+I'll show them that a worm can turn."</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="ii">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id3">II</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">The next morning, after a frugal breakfast
+of milk and cornmeal pancake,
+prepared over an open fireplace on
+live coals, which reddened her cheeks
+and bare arms, Mrs. Boyd pinned up
+her skirts till their edges hung on a level with the
+tops of her coarse, calf-skin shoes. She then climbed
+over the brier-grown rail-fence with the agility of
+a hunter and waded through the high, dew-soaked
+weeds and grass in the direction of the rising sun.
+The meadow was like a rolling green sea settling
+down to calmness after a storm. Here and there
+a tuft of dewy broom-sedge held up to her vision
+a sheaf of green hung with sparkling diamonds,
+emeralds, and rubies, and far ahead ran a crystal
+creek in and out among gracefully drooping willows
+and erect young reeds.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That's his brindle heifer now," the trudging
+woman said, harshly. "And over beyond the hay-stack
+and cotton-shed is his muley cow and calf.
+Huh, I reckon I'll make them strike a lively trot!
+It will be some time before they get grass as rich
+as mine inside of them to furnish milk and butter
+for Abe Longley and his sanctimonious lay-out."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Slowly walking around the animals, she finally
+got them together and drove them from her pasture
+to the small road which ran along the foot of the
+mountain towards their owner's farm-house, the
+gray roof of which rose above the leafy trees in the
+distance. To drive the animals out, she had found
+it necessary to lower a panel of her fence, and she
+was replacing the rails laboriously, one by one,
+when she heard a voice from the woodland on the
+mountain-side, a tract of unproductive land owned
+by the man whose cows she was ejecting. It was
+Abe Longley himself, and in some surprise he hurried
+down the rugged steep, a woodman's axe on
+his shoulder. He was a gaunt, slender man, gray
+and grizzled, past sixty years of age, with a tuft of
+stiff beard on his chin, which gave his otherwise
+smooth-shaven face a forbidding expression.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Hold on thar, Sister Boyd!" he called out, cheerily,
+though he seemed evidently to be trying to
+keep from betraying the impatience he evidently
+felt. "You must be getting nigh-sighted in yore
+old age. As shore as you are a foot high them's
+my cattle, an' not yourn. Why, I knowed my
+brindle from clean up at my wood-pile, a full quarter
+from here. I seed yore mistake an' hollered
+then, but I reckon you are gettin' deef as well as
+blind. I driv' 'em in not twenty minutes ago, as I
+come on to do my cuttin'."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I know you did, Abe Longley," and Mrs.
+Boyd stooped to grasp and raise the last rail and
+carefully put it in place; "I know they are yours.
+My eyesight's good enough. I know good and well
+they are yours, and that is the very reason I made
+them hump themselves to get off of my property."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But—but," and the farmer, thoroughly puzzled, lowered
+his glittering axe and stared wonderingly—"but
+you know, Sister Boyd, that you told
+me with your own mouth that, being as I'd traded
+off my own pasture-land to Dixon for my strip o'
+wheat in the bottom, that I was at liberty to use
+yourn how and when I liked, and, now—why, I'll
+be dad-blamed if I understand you one bit."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I understand what I'm about, Abe Longley,
+if you don't!" retorted the owner of the land.
+"I <em class="italics">did</em> say you could pasture on it, but I didn't say
+you could for all time and eternity; and I now give
+you due notice if I ever see any four-footed animal
+of yours inside of my fences I'll run them out with
+an ounce of buckshot in their hides."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, well, well!" Longley cried, at the end of his
+resources, as he leaned on his smooth axe-handle
+with one hand and clutched his beard with the
+other. "I don't know what to make of yore conduct.
+I can't do without the use of your land.
+There hain't a bit that I could rent or buy for love
+or money on either side of me for miles around.
+When folks find a man's in need of land, they stick
+the price up clean out of sight. I was tellin' Sue
+the other day that we was in luck havin' sech a
+neighbor—one that would do so much to help a
+body in a plight."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, I'm very good and kind," sneered Mrs.
+Boyd, her sharp eyes ablaze with indignation, "and
+last Sunday in meeting you and a lot of other able-bodied
+men sat still and let that foul-mouthed
+Bazemore say that even the wooden bench I sat
+on ought to be taken out and burned for the public
+good. You sat there and listened to <em class="italics">that</em>, and when
+he was through you got up and sung the doxology
+and bowed your head while that makeshift of a
+preacher called down God's benediction on you. If
+you think I'm going to keep a pasture for such a
+man as you to fatten your stock on, you need a
+guardian to look after you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, I see," Longley exclaimed, a crestfallen look
+on him. "You are goin' to blame us all for what
+he said, and you are mad at everybody that heard
+it. But you are dead wrong, Ann Boyd—dead
+wrong. You can't make over public opinion, and
+you'd 'a' been better off years ago if you hadn't
+been so busy trying to do it, whether or no. Folks
+would let you alone if you'd 'a' showed a more repentant
+sperit, and not held your head so high and
+been so spiteful. I reckon the most o' your trouble—that
+is, the reason it's lasted so long, is due to the
+women-folks more than the men of the community,
+anyhow. You see, it sorter rubs women's wool the
+wrong way to see about the only prosperity a body
+can see in the entire county falling at the feet of the
+one—well, the one least expected to have sech
+things—the one, I mought say, who hadn't lived
+exactly up to the <em class="italics">best</em> precepts."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't go to men like you for my precepts,"
+the woman hurled at him, "and I haven't got any
+time for palavering. All I want to do is to give
+you due notice not to trespass on my land, and I've
+done that plain enough, I reckon."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Abe Longley's thin face showed anger that was even
+stronger than his avarice; he stepped nearer to her,
+his eyes flashing, his wide upper-lip twitching nervously.
+"Do you know," he said, "that's its purty
+foolhardy of you to take up a fight like that agin a
+whole community. You know you hain't agoin'
+to make a softer bed to lie on. You know, if you
+find fault with me fer not denouncin' Bazemore,
+you may as well find fault with every living soul
+that was under reach o' his voice, fer nobody budged
+or said a word in yore defence."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I'm taking up a fight with no one," the woman
+said, firmly. "They can listen to what they want
+to listen to. The only thing I'm going to do in
+future is to see that no person uses me for profit
+and then willingly sees me spat upon. That's all
+I've got to say to you." And, turning, she walked
+away, leaving him standing as if rooted among his
+trees on the brown mountain-side.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"He'll go home and tell his wife, and she'll gad
+about an' fire the whole community against me,"
+Mrs. Boyd mused; "but I don't care. I'll have my
+rights if I die for it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">An hour later, in another dress and a freshly
+washed and ironed gingham bonnet, she fed her
+chickens from a pan of wet cornmeal dough, locked
+up her house carefully, fastening down the window-sashes
+on the inside by placing sticks above the
+movable ones, and trudged down the road to George
+Wilson's country-store at the crossing of the roads
+which led respectively to Springtown, hard-by on
+one side, and Darley, farther away on the other.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The store was a long, frame building which had
+once been whitewashed, but was now only a fuzzy,
+weather-beaten gray. As was usual in such structures,
+the front walls of planks rose higher than the
+pointed roof, and held large and elaborate lettering
+which might be read quite a distance away. Thereon
+the young store-keeper made the questionable
+statement that a better price for produce was given
+at his establishment than at Darley, where high rent,
+taxes, and clerk-hire had to be paid, and, moreover,
+that his goods were sold cheaper because, unlike the
+town dealers, he lived on the products from his
+own farm and employed no help. In front of the
+store, convenient alike to both roads, stood a rustic
+hitching-rack made of unbarked oaken poles into
+which railway spikes had been driven, and on which
+horseshoes had been nailed to hold the reins of any
+customer's mount. On the ample porch of the
+store stood a new machine for the hulling of pease,
+several ploughs, and a red-painted device for the
+dropping and covering of seed-corn. On the walls
+within hung various pieces of tin-ware and harnesses
+and saddles, and the two rows of shelving held a
+good assortment of general merchandise.</p>
+<p class="pnext">As Mrs. Boyd entered the store, Wilson, a blond
+young man with an ample mustache, stood behind
+the counter talking to an Atlanta drummer who
+had driven out from Darley to sell the store-keeper
+some dry-goods and notions, and he did not come
+to her at once, but delayed to see the drummer
+make an entry in his order-book; then he advanced
+to her.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Excuse me, Mrs. Boyd," he smiled. "I am ordering
+some new prints for you ladies, and I wanted
+to see that he got the number of bolts down right.
+This is early for you to be out, isn't it? It's been
+many a day since I've seen you pass this way before
+dinner. I took a sort of liberty with you yesterday,
+knowing how good-natured you are. Dave
+Prixon was going your way with his empty wagon,
+and, as I was about to run low on your favorite
+brand of flour, I sent you a barrel and put it on
+your account at the old price. I thought you'd
+keep it. You may have some yet on hand, but this
+will come handy when you get out."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But I don't intend to keep it," replied the
+woman, under her bonnet, and her voice sounded
+harsh and crisp. "I haven't touched it. It's out
+in the yard where Prixon dumped it. If it was to
+rain on it I reckon it would mildew. It wouldn't
+be my loss. I didn't order it put there."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, Mrs. Boyd!" and Wilson's tone and surprised
+glance at the drummer caused that dapper
+young man to prick up his ears and move nearer;
+"why, it's the best brand I handle, and you said
+the last gave you particular satisfaction, so I naturally—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I don't want it; I didn't order it, and I
+don't intend to have you nor no one else unloading
+stuff in my front yard whenever you take a notion
+and want to make money by the transaction. Deduct
+that from my bill, and tell me what I owe you.
+I want to settle in full."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But—but—" Wilson had never seemed to the
+commercial traveller to be so much disturbed; he
+was actually pale, and his long hands, which rested
+on the smooth surface of the counter, were trembling—"but
+I don't understand," he floundered.
+"It's only the middle of the month, Mrs. Boyd, and
+I never run up accounts till the end. You are not
+going <em class="italics">off</em>, are you?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh no," and the woman pushed back her bonnet
+and eyed him almost fiercely, "you needn't any
+of you think that. I'm going to stay right on here;
+but I'll tell you what I am going to do, George
+Wilson—I'm going to buy my supplies in the future
+at Darley. You see, since this talk of burning the
+very bench I sit on in the house of God, which you
+and your ilk set and listen to, why—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, Mrs. Boyd," he broke in, "now don't go
+and blame me for what Brother Bazemore said
+when he was—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"<em class="italics">Brother</em> Bazemore!" The woman flared up and
+brought her clinched hand down on the counter.
+"I'll never as long as I live let a dollar of my money
+pass into the hands of a man who calls that man
+brother. You sat still and raised no protest against
+what he said, and that ends business between us
+for all time. There is no use talking about it.
+Make out my account, and don't keep me standing
+here to be stared at like I was a curiosity in a side-show."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"All right, Mrs. Boyd; I'm sorry," faltered Wilson,
+with a glance at the drummer, who, feeling that
+he had been alluded to, moved discreetly across
+the room and leaned against the opposite counter.
+"I'll go back to the desk and make it out."</p>
+<p class="pnext">She stood motionless where he had left her till
+he came back with her account in his hand, then
+from a leather bag she counted out the money and
+paid it to him. The further faint, half-fearful
+apologies which Wilson ventured on making seemed
+to fall on closed ears, and, with the receipted bill in
+her bag, she strode from the house. He followed
+her to the door and stood looking after her as she
+angrily trudged back towards her farm.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, well," he sighed, as the drummer came
+to his elbow and stared at him wonderingly, "there
+goes the best and most profitable customer I've
+had since I began selling goods. It's made me sick
+at heart, Masters. I don't see how I can do without
+her, and yet I don't blame her one bit—not a
+bit, so help me God."</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="iii">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id4">III</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">Wilson turned, and with a frown went
+moodily back to his desk and sat down
+on the high stool, gloomily eying the
+page in a ledger which he had just
+consulted.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"By George, that woman's a corker," said the
+drummer, sociably, as he came back and stood near
+the long wood-stove. "Of course, I don't know
+what it's all about, but she's her own boss, I'll stake
+good money on that."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"She's about the sharpest and in many ways
+the strongest woman in the state," said the store-keeper,
+with a sigh. "Good Lord, Masters, she's
+been my main-stay ever since I opened this shack,
+and now to think because that loud-mouthed Bazemore,
+who expects me to pay a good part of his
+salary, takes a notion to rip her up the back in
+meeting, why—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, I see!" cried the drummer—"I understand
+it now. I heard about that at Darley. So <em class="italics">she's</em>
+the woman! Well, I'm glad <em class="italics">I</em> got a good look at
+her. I see a lot of queer things in going about over
+the country, but I don't think I ever ran across just
+her sort."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"She's had a devil of a life, Masters, from the
+time she was a blooming, pretty young girl till now
+that she is at war with everybody within miles of
+her. She's always been a study to me. She's treated
+me more like a son than anything else—doing everything
+in her power to help me along, buying, by
+George, things sometimes that I knew she didn't
+need because it would help me out, and now, because
+I didn't get up in meeting last Sunday and call that
+man down she holds me accountable. I don't know
+but what she's right. Why should I take her hard-earned
+money and sit still and allow her to be
+abused? She's simply got pride, and lots of it, and
+it's bad hurt."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But what was it all about?" the drummer inquired.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"The start of it was away back when she was a
+girl, as I said," began the store-keeper. "You've
+heard of Colonel Preston Chester, our biggest planter,
+who lives a mile from here—old-time chap, fighter
+of duels, officer in the army, and all that?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh yes, I've seen him; in fact, I was at college
+at the State University with his son Langdon. He
+was a terrible fellow—very wild and reckless, full
+half the time, and playing poker every night. He
+was never known to pay a debt, even to his best
+friends."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Langdon is a chip off of the old block," said
+Wilson. "His father was just like him when he
+was a young man. Between you and me, the
+Colonel never had a conscience; old as he now is, he
+will sit and laugh about his pranks right in the
+presence of his son. It's no wonder the boy turned
+out like he did. Well, away back when this Mrs.
+Boyd was a young and pretty girl, the daughter of
+honest, hard-working people, who owned a little
+farm back of his place, he took an idle fancy to her.
+I'm telling you now what has gradually leaked out
+in one way and another since. He evidently won
+her entire confidence, made her believe he was going
+to marry her, and, as he was a dashing young fellow,
+she must have fallen in love with him. Nobody
+knows how that was, but one thing is sure, and that
+is that he was seen about with her almost constantly
+for a whole year, and then he stopped off suddenly.
+The report went out that he'd made up his mind to
+get married to a young woman in Alabama who had
+a lot of money, and he did go off and bring home
+the present Mrs. Chester, Langdon's mother. Well,
+old-timers say young Ann Boyd took it hard, stayed
+close in at home and wasn't seen out for a couple of
+years. Then she come out again, and they say she
+was better-looking than ever and a great deal more
+serious and sensible. Joe Boyd was a young farmer
+those days, and a sort of dandy, and he fell dead in
+love with her and hung about her day and night,
+never seeming willing to let her out of his sight.
+Several other fellows, they say, was after her, but
+she seemed to like Joe the best, but nothing he'd
+do or say would make her accept him. I can see
+through it now, looking back on what has since
+leaked out, but nobody understood it then, for she
+had evidently got over her attachment for Colonel
+Chester, and Joe was a promising fellow, strong,
+good-looking, and a great beau and flirt among
+women, half a dozen being in love with him, but
+Ann simply wouldn't take him, and it was the talk
+of the whole county. He was simply desperate
+folks say, going about boring everybody he met
+with his love affair. Finally her mother and father
+and all her friends got after her to marry Joe, and
+she gave in. And then folks wondered more than
+ever why she'd delayed, for she was more in love
+with her husband than anybody had any reason to
+expect. They were happy, too. A child was born,
+a little girl, and that seemed to make them happier.
+Then Mrs. Boyd's mother and father died, and she
+came into the farm, and the Boyds were comfortable
+in every way. Then what do you think happened?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I've been wondering all along," the drummer
+laughed. "I can see you're holding something up
+your sleeve."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, this happened. Colonel Chester's wife
+was, even then, a homely woman, about as old as
+he was, and not at all attractive aside from her
+money, and marrying hadn't made him any the
+less devilish. They say he saw Mrs. Boyd at meeting
+one day and hardly took his eyes off of her
+during preaching. She had developed into about
+the most stunning-looking woman anywhere about,
+and knew how to dress, which was something Mrs.
+Chester, with all her chances, had never seemed to
+get onto. Well, that was the start of it, and from
+that day on Chester seemed to have nothing on
+his mind but the good looks of his old sweetheart.
+Folks saw him on his horse riding about where he
+could get to meet her, and then it got reported that
+he was actually forcing himself on her to such an
+extent that Joe Boyd was worked up over it, aided
+by the eternal gab of all the women in the section."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Did Colonel Chester's wife get onto it?" the
+drummer wanted to know.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It don't seem like she did," answered Wilson.
+"She was away visiting her folks in the South most
+of the time, with Langdon, who was a baby then,
+and it may be that she didn't care. Some folks
+thought she was weak-minded; she never seemed
+to have any will of her own, but left the Colonel to
+manage her affairs without a word."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, go on with your story," urged the drummer.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"There isn't much more to tell about the poor
+woman," continued Wilson. "As I said, Chester
+got to forcing himself on her, and I reckon she didn't
+want to tell her husband what she was trying to
+forget for fear of a shooting scrape, in which Joe
+would get the worst of it; but this happened: Joe
+was off at court in Darley and sent word home to
+his wife that he was to be held all night on a jury.
+The man that took the message rode home alongside
+of Chester and told him about it. Well, I
+reckon, all hell broke out in Chester that night.
+He was a drinking man, and he tanked up, and, as
+his wife was away, he had plenty of liberty. Well,
+he simply went over to Joe Boyd's house and went
+in. It was about ten o'clock. My honest conviction
+is, no matter what others think, that she
+tried her level best to make him leave without
+rousing the neighborhood, but he wouldn't go, but
+sat there in the dark with his coat off, telling her he
+loved her more than her husband did, and that he
+never had loved his wife, and that he was crazy
+for her, and the like. How long this went on, with
+her imploring and praying to him to go, I don't
+know; but, at any rate, they both heard the gate-latch
+click and Joe Boyd come right up the gravel-walk.
+I reckon the poor woman was scared clean
+out of her senses, for she made no outcry, and
+Chester went to a window, his coat on his arm, and
+was climbing out when Joe, who couldn't get in at
+the front door and was making for the one in the
+rear, met him face to face."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Great goodness!" ejaculated the commercial
+traveller.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, you bet, the devil was to pay," went on
+the store-keeper, grimly. "Chester was mad and
+reckless, and, being hot with liquor, and regarding
+Boyd as far beneath him socially, instead of making
+satisfactory explanations, they say he simply swore
+at Boyd and stalked away. Dumfounded, Boyd went
+inside to his miserable wife and demanded an explanation.
+She has since learned how to use her
+wits with the best in the land, but she was young
+then, and so, by her silence, she made matters worse
+for herself. He forced her to explain, and, seeing
+no other way out of the affair, she decided to throw
+herself on his mercy and make a clean breast of
+things her and her family had kept back all that
+time. Well, sir, she confessed to what had happened
+away back before Chester had deserted her,
+no doubt telling a straight story of her absolute
+purity and faithfulness to Boyd after marriage.
+Poor old Joe! He wasn't a fighting man, and, instead
+of following Chester and demanding satisfaction,
+he stayed at home that night, no doubt
+suffering the agony of the damned and trying to
+make up his mind to believe in his wife and to stand
+by her. As it looks now, he evidently decided to
+make the best of it, and might have succeeded, but
+somehow it got out about Chester being caught
+there, and that started gossip so hot that her life
+and his became almost unbearable. It might have
+died a natural death in time, but Mrs. Boyd had
+an enemy, Mrs. Jane Hemingway, who had been
+one of the girls who was in love with Joe Boyd. It
+seems that she never had got over Joe's marrying
+another woman, and when she heard this scandal
+she nagged and teased Joe about his babyishness in
+being willing to believe his wife, and told him so
+many lies that Boyd finally quit staying at home,
+sulking about in the mountains, and making trips
+away till he finally applied for a divorce. Ignorant
+and inexperienced as she was, and proud, Mrs.
+Boyd made no defence, and the whole thing went
+his way with very little publicity. But the hardest
+part for her to bear was when, having the court's
+decree to take charge of his child, Boyd came and
+took it away."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Good gracious! that was tough, wasn't it?" exclaimed
+the drummer.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That's what it was, and they say it fairly upset
+her mind. They expected her to fight like a tiger
+for her young, but at the time they came for it she
+only seemed stupefied. The little girl was only
+three years old, but they say Ann came in the room
+and said she was going to ask the child if it was
+willing to leave her, and they say she calmly put
+the question, and the baby, not knowing what she
+meant, said, 'Yes.' Then they say Ann talked to it
+as if it were a grown person, and told her to go, that
+she'd never give her a thought in the future, and
+never wanted to lay eyes on her again."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That was pitiful, wasn't it?" said Masters. "By
+George, we don't dream of what is going on in the
+hearts of men and women we meet face to face every
+day. And that's what started her in the life she's
+since led."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, she lived in her house like a hermit, never
+going out unless she absolutely had to. She had
+an old-fashioned loom in a shed-room adjoining
+her house, and night and day people passing along
+the road could hear her thumping away on it. She
+kept a lot of fine sheep, feeding and shearing them
+herself, and out of the wool she wove a certain kind
+of jean cloth which she sold at a fancy figure. I've
+seen wagon-loads of it pass along the road billed to
+a big house in Atlanta. This went on for several
+years, and then it was noticed that she was accumulating
+money. She was buying all the land she
+could around her house, as if to force folks as far
+from her as possible, and she turned the soil to a
+good purpose, for she knew how to work it. She
+hired negroes for cash, when others were paying in
+old clothes and scraps, and, as she went to the field
+with them and worked in the sun and rain like a
+man, she got more out of her planting than the
+average farmer."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"So she's really well off?" said the drummer.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Got more than almost anybody else in the
+county," said Wilson. "She's got stocks in all
+sorts of things, and owns houses on the main street
+in Darley, which she keeps well rented. It seems
+like, not having anything else to amuse her, she
+turned her big brain to economy and money-making,
+and I've always thought she did it to hit back at
+the community. You see, the more she makes, the
+more her less fortunate neighbors dislike her, and
+she loves to get even as far as possible."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And has she had no associates at all?" Masters
+wanted to know.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, yes, there is one woman, a Mrs. Waycroft,
+who has always been intimate with her. She is the
+only—I started to say she was the only one, but
+there was a poor mountain fellow, Luke King, a
+barefoot boy who had a fine character, a big brain
+on him, and no education. His parents were poor,
+and did little for him. They say Mrs. Boyd sort of
+took pity on him and used to buy books and papers
+for him, and that she really taught him to read and
+write. She sent him off to school, and got him on
+his feet till he was able to find work in a newspaper
+office over at Canton, where he became a boss typesetter.
+I've always thought that her misfortune
+had never quite killed her natural impulses, for she
+certainly got fond of that fellow. I had an exhibition
+of both his regard and hers right here at the
+store. He'd come in to buy something or other,
+and was waiting about the stove one cold winter
+day, when a big mountain chap made a light remark
+about Mrs. Boyd. He was a head taller than
+Luke King was, but the boy sprang at him like a
+panther and knocked the fellow down. They had
+the bloodiest fight I ever saw, and it was several
+minutes before they could be separated. Luke had
+damaged the chap pretty badly, but he was able
+to stand, while the boy keeled over in a dead faint
+on the floor, bruised inside some way. The big fellow,
+fearing arrest, mounted his horse and went
+away, and several of us were doing what we could
+with cold water and whiskey to bring the boy around
+when who should come in but Ann herself. She
+was passing the store, and some one told her about
+it. People who think she has no heart and is as
+cold as stone ought to have seen her that day. In
+all my life I never saw such a terrible face on a
+human being. I was actually afraid of her. She
+was all fury and all tenderness combined. She looked
+down at him in all his blood and bruises and
+white face, and got down on her knees by him. I
+saw a great big sob rise up in her, although her back
+was to me, and shake her from head to foot, and
+then she was still, simply stroking back his damp,
+tangled hair. 'My poor boy,' I heard her say, 'you
+can't fight my battles. God Himself has failed to
+do that, but I won't forget this—never—never!'"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Lord, that was strong!" said Masters. "She
+must be wonderful!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"She is more wonderful than her narrow-minded
+enemies dream of," returned the store-keeper.
+"You see, it's her pride that keeps her from showing
+her fine feelings, and it's her secluded life that makes
+them misunderstand her. Well, she brought her
+wagon and took the boy away. That was another
+queer thing," Wilson added. "She evidently had
+started to take him to her house, for she drove as
+far as the gate and then stopped there to study a
+moment, and finally turned round and drove him
+to the poor cabin his folks lived in. You see, she
+was afraid that even that would cause talk, and it
+would. Old Jane Hemingway would have fed on
+that morsel for months, as unreasonable as it would
+have been. Ann sent a doctor, though, and every
+delicacy the market afforded, and the boy was soon
+out. It wasn't long afterwards that Luke King
+went to college at Knoxville, and now he's away in
+the West somewhere. His mother, after his father's
+death, married a trifling fellow, Mark Bruce, and
+that brought on some dispute between her and her
+son, who had tried to keep her from marrying such
+a man. They say Luke told her if she did marry
+Bruce he'd go away and never even write home,
+and so far, they say, he has kept his word. Nobody
+knows where he is or what he's doing unless
+it is Mrs. Boyd, and she never talks. I can't keep
+from thinking he's done well, though, for he had a
+big head on him and a lot of determination."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And this Mrs. Hemingway, her enemy," said
+the drummer, tentatively, "you say she was evidently
+the woman's rival at one time. But it
+seems she married some one else."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh yes, she suddenly accepted Tom Hemingway,
+an old bachelor, who had been trying to marry
+her for a long time. Most people thought she did
+it to hide her feelings when Joe Boyd got married.
+She treated Tom like a dog, making him do everything
+she wanted, and he was daft about her till he
+died, just a couple of weeks after his child was born,
+who, by-the-way, has grown up to be the prettiest
+girl in all the country, and that's another feature
+in the story," the store-keeper smiled. "You see,
+Mrs. Boyd looks upon old Jane as the prime cause
+of her losing her <em class="italics">own</em> child, and I understand she
+hates the girl as much as she does her mother."</p>
+<p class="pnext">A man had come into the store and stood leaning
+against a show-case on the side devoted to groceries.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"There's a customer," said the drummer; "don't
+let me keep you, old man; you know you've got to
+look at my samples some time to-day."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I'll go see what he wants," said Wilson,
+"and then I'll look through your line, though I don't
+feel a bit like it, after losing the best regular customer
+I have."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The drummer had opened his sample-case on the
+desk when Wilson came back.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You say the woman's husband took the child
+away," remarked the drummer; "did he go far?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"They first settled away out in Texas," replied
+Wilson, "but Joe Boyd, not having his wife's wonderful
+head to guide him, failed at farming there,
+and only about three years ago he came back to
+this country and bought a little piece of land over
+in Gilmer—the county that joins this one."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, so near as that! Then perhaps she has
+seen her daughter and—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh no, they've never met," said Wilson, as he
+took a sample pair of men's suspenders from the
+case and tested the elastic by stretching it between
+his hands. "I know that for certain. She was in
+here one morning waiting for one of her teams to
+pass to take her to Darley, when a peddler opened
+his pack of tin-ware and tried to sell her some pieces
+I was out of. He heard me call her by name, and,
+to be agreeable, he asked her if she was any kin
+to Joe Boyd and his daughter, over in Gilmer. I
+could have choked the fool for his stupidity. I
+tried to catch his eye to warn him, but he was intent
+on selling her a bill, and took no notice of anything
+else. I saw her stare at him steady for a second
+or two, then she seemed to swallow something, and
+said, 'No, they are no kin of mine.' And then what
+did the skunk do but try to make capital out of
+that. 'Well, you may be glad,' he said, 'that they
+are no kin, for they are as near the ragged edge as
+any folks I ever ran across.' He went on to say he
+stayed overnight at Boyd's cabin and that they
+had hardly anything but streak-o'-lean-streak-o'-fat
+meat and corn-bread to offer him, and that
+the girl had the worst temper he'd ever seen. Mrs.
+Boyd, I reckon, to hide her face, was looking at
+some of the fellow's pans, and he seemed to think
+he was on the right line, and so he kept talking. Old
+Joe, he said, had struck him as a good-natured, lazy
+sort of come-easy-go-easy mountaineer, but the girl
+looked stuck up, like she thought she was some better
+than appearances would indicate. He said she was
+a tall, gawky sort of girl, with no good looks to brag
+of, and he couldn't for the life of him see what she
+had to make her so proud.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I wondered what Mrs. Boyd was going to do,
+but she was equal to that emergency, as she always
+has been in everything. She held one of his pans
+up in the light and tilted her bonnet back on her
+head, I thought, to let me see she wasn't hiding anything,
+and said, as unconcerned as if he'd never
+mentioned a delicate subject. 'Look here,' she said,
+thumping the bottom of the pan with her finger,
+'if you expect to do any business with <em class="italics">me</em> you'll
+have to bring copper-bottom ware to me. I don't
+buy shoddy stuff from any one. These pans will
+rust through in two months. I'll take half a dozen,
+but I'm only doing it to pay you for the time spent
+on me. It is a bad investment for any one to buy
+cheap, stamped ware.'"</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="iv">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id5">IV</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">Mrs. Jane Hemingway, Ann
+Boyd's long and persistent enemy, sat
+in the passage which connected the
+two parts of her house, a big, earthernware
+churn between her sharp knees,
+firmly raising and lowering the bespattered dasher
+with her bony hands. She was a woman past fifty;
+her neck was long and slender, and the cords under
+the parchment-like skin had a way of tightening,
+like ropes in the seams of a tent, when she swallowed
+or spoke. Her dark, smoothly brushed hair was
+done up in the tightest of balls behind her head,
+and her brown eyes were easily kindled to suspicion,
+fear, or anger.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Her brother-in-law, Sam Hemingway, called
+"Hem" by his intimates, slouched in from the
+broad glare of the mid-day sun and threw his coat
+on a chair. Then he went to the shelf behind the
+widow, and, pouring some water into a tin pan from
+a pail, he noisily bathed his perspiring face and big,
+red hands. As he was drying himself on the towel
+which hung on a wooden roller on the weather-boarding
+of the wall, Virginia Hemingway, his niece,
+came in from the field bringing a pail of freshly
+gathered dewberries. In appearance she was all
+that George Wilson had claimed for her. Slightly
+past eighteen, she had a wonderful complexion, a
+fine, graceful figure, big, dreamy, hazel eyes, and
+golden-brown hair, and, which was rare in one of her
+station, she was tastily dressed. She smiled as she
+showed her uncle the berries and playfully "tickled"
+him under the chin.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"See there!" she chuckled.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Pies?" he said, with an unctuous grin, as he
+peered down into her pail.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I thought of you while I was gathering them,"
+she nodded. "I'm going to try to make them just
+as you like them, with red, candied bars criss-crossing."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Nothing in the pie-line can hold a candle to the
+dewberry unless it's the cherry," he chuckled. "The
+stones of the cherries sorter hold a fellow back, but
+I manage to make out. I et a pie once over at
+Darley without a stone in it, and you bet your life
+it was a daisy."</p>
+<p class="pnext">He went into his room for his tobacco, and Virginia
+sat down to stem her berries. He returned
+in a moment, leaning in the doorway, drawing lazily
+at his pipe. The widow glanced up at him, and
+rested her dasher on the bottom of the churn.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I reckon folks are still talking about Ann Boyd
+and her flouncing out of meeting like she did," the
+widow remarked. "Well, that <em class="italics">was</em> funny, but
+what was the old thing to do? It would take a
+more brazen-faced woman than she is, if such a
+thing exists, to sit still and hear all he said."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, they are still hammering at the poor creature's
+back," said Sam, "and that's one thing I
+can't understand, nuther. She's got dead loads of
+money—in fact, she's independent of the whole
+capoodle of you women. Now, why don't she kick
+the dust o' this spot off of her heels an' go away
+whar she can be respected, an', by gosh! be let alone
+<em class="italics">one</em> minute 'fore she dies. They say she's the
+smartest woman in the state, but that don't show
+it—living on here whar you women kin throw a
+rock at her every time she raises her head above
+low ground."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I've wondered why she don't go off, too," the
+widow said, as she peered down at the floating
+lumps of yellow butter in the snowy depths of her
+vessel, and deftly twirled her dasher in her fingers
+to make them "gather"; "but, Sam, haven't you
+heard that persons always want to be on the spot
+where they went wrong? I think she's that way.
+And when the facts leaked out on her, and her husband
+repudiated her and took the child away, she
+determined to stay here and live it down. But
+instead of calling humility and submission to her
+aid, she turned in to stinting and starving to make
+money, and now she flaunts her prosperity in our
+faces, as if <em class="italics">that</em> is going to make folks believe any
+more in her. Money's too easily made in evil ways
+for Christian people to bow before it, and possessions
+ain't going to keep such men as Brother
+Bazemore from calling her down whenever she puts
+on her gaudy finery and struts out to meeting. It
+was a bold thing for her to do, anyway, after berating
+him as she did when he went to her to get
+the use of her grove for the picnic."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"They say she didn't know Bazemore was to
+preach that day," said Sam. "She'd heard that
+the presiding elder was due here, and I'm of the
+opinion that she took that opportunity to show you
+all she wasn't afraid to appear in public."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Virginia Hemingway threw a handful of berry-stems
+out into the sunshine in the yard. "She's a
+queer woman," she said, innocently, "like a character
+in a novel, and, somehow, I don't believe she
+is as bad as people make her out. I never told
+either of you, but I met her yesterday down on the
+road."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"<em class="italics">You</em> met her!" cried Mrs. Hemingway, aghast.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, she was going home from her sugar-mill
+with her apron full of fresh eggs that she'd found
+down at her hay-stacks, and just as she got close to
+me her dress got caught on a snag and she couldn't
+get it loose. I stopped and unfastened it, and she
+actually thanked me, though, since I was born, I've
+never seen such a queer expression on a human face.
+She was white and red and dark as a thunder-cloud
+all at once. It looked like she hated me, but was
+trying to be polite for what I'd done."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You had no business touching her dirty skirt,"
+the widow flared up. "The next thing you know
+it will go out that you and her are thick. It would
+literally ruin a young girl to be associated with a
+woman of that stamp. What on earth could have
+possessed you to—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, come off!" Sam laughed. "Why, you
+know you've always taught Virgie to be considerate
+of old folks, and she was just doing what she
+ought to have done for any old nigger mammy."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I looked at it that way," said the girl, "and I'm
+not sorry, for I don't want her to think I hate her,
+for I don't. I think she has had a hard life, and I
+wish it were in my power to help her out of her
+trouble."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Virginia, what are you talking about?" cried
+Mrs. Hemingway. "The idea of your standing up
+for that woman, when—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, Luke King used to defend her," Virginia
+broke in, impulsively, "and before he went away
+you used to admit he was the finest young man in
+the county. I've seen him almost shed tears when
+he'd tell about what she'd done for him, and how
+tender-hearted and kind she was."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Tender-hearted nothing!" snapped Mrs. Hemingway,
+under a deep frown. "Luke King was the
+only person that went about her, and she tried
+to work on his sympathies for some purpose or
+other. Besides, nobody knows what ever become
+of him; he may have gone to the dogs by this time;
+it looks like somebody would have heard of him if
+he had come to any good in the five years he's been
+away."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Somehow, I think she knows where he is,"
+Virginia said, thoughtfully, as she rose to put her
+berries away.</p>
+<p class="pnext">When she had gone, Sam laughed softly. "It's
+a wonder to me that Virgie don't know whar Luke
+is, <em class="italics">herself</em>," he said. "I 'lowed once that the fellow
+liked her powerful; but I reckon he thought she
+was too young, or didn't want to take the matter
+further when he was as poor as Job's turkey and
+had no sort of outlook ahead."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I sort o' thought that, too," the widow admitted,
+"but I didn't want Virginia to encourage
+him when he was accepting so much from that
+woman."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Sam laughed again as he knocked the ashes from
+his pipe and cleaned the bowl with the tip of his
+finger. "Well, '<em class="italics">that woman</em>,' as you call her, is a
+power in the land that hates her," he said. "She
+knows how to hit back from her fortress in that old
+farm-house. George Wilson knows what it means
+not to stand by her in public, so does Abe Longley,
+that has to drive his cattle to grass two miles over
+the mountains. Jim Johnston, who was dead sure
+of renting her northeast field again next year, has
+been served with a notice to vacate, and now, if
+the latest news can be depended on, she's hit a
+broad lick at half the farmers in the valley, and,
+while I'm a sufferer with the balance, I don't blame
+her one bit. I'd 'a' done the same pine-blank
+thing years ago if I'd stood in her shoes."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What's she done <em class="italics">now</em>?" asked the woman at the
+churn, leaning forward eagerly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Done? Why, she says she's tired o' footing
+almost the entire wheat-threshing bill for twenty
+measly little farmers. You know she's been standing
+her part of the expenses to get the Empire Company
+to send their steam thresher here, and her contribution
+amounted to more than half. She's decided,
+by hunky, to plant corn and cotton exclusively next
+year, and so notified the Empire Company. They
+can't afford to come unless she sows wheat, and
+they sent a man clean from Atlanta to argue the
+matter with her, but she says she's her own boss,
+an' us farmers who has land fittin' for nothing
+but wheat is going to get badly left in the lurch.
+Oh, Bazemore opened the battle agin her, and
+you-uns echoed the war-cry, an' the battle is good
+on. I'll go without flour biscuits and pie-crust,
+but the fight will be interesting. The Confed' soldiers
+made a purty good out along about '61, an'
+they done it barefooted an' on hard-tack an' water.
+If you folks are bent on devilling the hide off of the
+most influential woman in our midst, just because
+her foot got caught in the hem of her skirt an'
+tripped her up when she was a thoughtless young
+girl, I reckon us men will have to look on an' say
+nothing."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"She <em class="italics">did</em> slip up, as you say," remarked the
+widow, "and she's been a raging devil ever since."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Ay! an' who made her one? Tell me that."
+Sam laughed. "You may not want to hear it,
+Jane, but some folks hint that you was at the bottom
+of it—some think lazy Joe Boyd would have
+stayed on in that comfortable boat, with a firm
+hand like hern at the rudder, if you hadn't ding-donged
+at him and told tales to him till he had to
+pull out."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Huh! They say that, do they?" The widow
+frowned as she turned and looked straight at him.
+"Well, let 'em. What do I care? I didn't want
+to see as good-hearted a man as he was hoodwinked."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I reckon not," Sam said, significantly, and he
+walked out of the passage down towards the barn.
+"Huh!" he mused, as he strode along crumbling
+leaf-tobacco of his own growing and filling his pipe.
+"I come as nigh as pease tellin' the old woman
+some'n' else folks say, an' that is that she was purty
+nigh daft about Joe Boyd, once upon a time, and
+that dashing Ann cut her out as clean as a whistle.
+I'll bet that 'ud make my sister-in-law so dern hot
+she'd blister from head to foot."</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="v">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id6">V</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">That afternoon Jane Hemingway went
+out to the barn-yard. For years
+she had cultivated a habit of going
+thither, obviously to look after certain
+hens that nested there, but in reality,
+though she would not have admitted it even
+to herself, she went because from that coign of
+vantage she could look across her enemy's fertile
+acres right into the lone woman's doorway and
+sometimes catch a glimpse of Ann at work. There
+was one unpleasant contingency that she sometimes
+allowed her mind to dwell upon, and that was that
+Joe Boyd and his now grown daughter might, inasmuch
+as Ann's wealth and power were increasing
+in direct ratio to the diminution of their own, eventually
+sue for pardon and return. That had become
+Jane's nightmare, riding her night and day, and she
+was not going to let any living soul know the
+malicious things she had done and said to thwart
+it. Vaguely she regarded the possible coming-back
+of the father and daughter as her own undoing.
+She knew the pulse of the community well enough
+to understand that nothing could happen which
+would so soon end the war against Ann Boyd as
+such a reconciliation. Yes, it would amount to her
+own undoing, for people were like sheep, and the
+moment one ran to Ann Boyd's side in approval, all
+would flock around her, and it would only be natural
+for them to turn against the one woman who had
+been the primal cause of the separation.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jane was at the bars looking out on a little, seldom-used
+road which ran between her land and
+Ann's, when her attention was caught by a man
+with a leather hand-bag strapped on his shoulders
+trudging towards her. He was a stranger, and
+his dusty boots and trousers showed that he had
+walked a long distance. As he drew near he took
+off his straw hat and bowed very humbly, allowing
+his burden to swing round in front of him till he
+had eased it down on the turf at his feet.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Good-evening, madam," he said. "I'd like to
+show you something if you've got the time to spare.
+I've made so many mountain folks happy, and at
+such a small outlay, that I tell you they are glad
+to have me come around again. This is a new beat
+to me, but I felt it my duty to widen out some in
+the cause of human suffering."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What is it you've got?" Jane asked, smiling at
+his manner of speaking, as he deftly unlocked his
+valise and opened it out before her.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It's a godsend, and that's no joke," said the
+peddler. "I've got a household liniment here at a
+quarter for a four-ounce flask that no family can
+afford to be without. You may think I'm just talking
+because it's my business, but, madam, do you
+know that the regular druggists all about over this
+country are in a combine not to sell stuff that will
+keep people in good trim? And why? you may
+ask me. Why? Because, I say, that it would kill
+the'r business. Go to one, I dare you, or to a doctor
+in regular practice, and they will mix up chalk
+and sweetened water and tell you you've got a
+serious internal complaint, and to keep coming day
+after day till your pile is exhausted, and then they
+may tell you the truth and ask you to let 'em alone.
+I couldn't begin, madam—I don't know your name—I
+say I couldn't begin to tell you the wonderful
+cures this liniment has worked all over this part of
+the state."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What is it good for?" Jane Hemingway's face
+had grown suddenly serious. The conversation had
+caused her thoughts to revert to a certain secret
+fear she had entertained for several months.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Huh—good for?—excuse me, but you make me
+laugh," the peddler said, as he held a bottle of the
+dark fluid up before her; "it's good for so many
+things that I could hardly get through telling you
+between now and sundown. It's good for anything
+that harms the blood, skin, or muscles. It's even
+good for the stomach, although I don't advise it
+taken internally, for when it's rubbed on the outside
+of folks they have perfect digestions; but what
+it is best for is sprains, lameness, or any skin or
+blood eruption. Do you know, madam, that you'd
+never hear of so many cancers and tumors, that are
+dragging weary folks to early graves hereabouts, if
+this medicine had been used in time?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Cancer?" The widow's voice had fallen, and
+she looked towards Ann Boyd's house, and then
+more furtively over her shoulder towards her own,
+as if to be sure of not being observed. "That's
+what I've always wondered at, how is anybody to
+know whether a—a thing is a cancer or not without
+going to a doctor, and, as you say, even <em class="italics">then</em> they
+may not tell you the truth? Mrs. Twiggs, over the
+mountain, was never let know she had her cancer
+till a few months before it carried her off. The
+family and the doctor never told her the truth.
+The doctor said it couldn't be cured, and to know
+would only make the poor thing brood over it and
+be miserable."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That's it, now," said the medicine-vender; "but
+if it had been taken at the start and rubbed vigorously
+night and morning, it would have melted
+away under this fluid like dirt under lye-soap and
+warm water. Madam, a cancer is nothing more
+nor less than bad circulation at a certain point
+where blood stands till it becomes foul and putrefies.
+I can—excuse me if I seem bold, but long
+experience in handling men and women has learnt
+me to understand human nature. Most people who
+are afraid they've got cancers generally show it
+on their faces, an' I'll bet my hat and walk bareheaded
+to the nighest store to get another that you
+are troubled on that line—a little bit, anyway."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jane made no denial, though her thin face worked
+as she strove adequately to meet his blunt assertion.
+"As I said just now"—she swallowed, and
+avoided his covetous glance—"how is a person
+really to <em class="italics">know</em>?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It's a mighty easy matter for <em class="italics">me</em> to tell," said
+the peddler, and he spoke most reassuringly. "Just
+you let me take a look at the spot, if it's no trouble
+to you, and I may save you a good many sleepless
+nights. You are a nervous, broody sort of a woman yourself,
+and I can see by your face that you've
+let this matter bother you a lots."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You think you could tell if you—you looked at
+it?" Jane asked, tremulously.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, if I didn't it would be the first case I
+ever diagnosed improperly. Couldn't we go in the
+house?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jane hesitated. "I think I'd rather my folks
+didn't know—that is, of course, if it <em class="italics">is</em> one. My
+brother-in-law is a great hand to talk, and I'd rather
+it wasn't noised about. If there's one thing in the
+world I don't like it's the pity and the curiosity of
+other folks as to just about how long I'm going to
+hold out."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I've seed a lots o' folks like you." The peddler
+smiled. "But, if you don't mind tellin', where's
+the thing located?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It's on my breast," Jane gulped, undecidedly,
+and then, the first bridge having been crossed, she
+unbuttoned her dress at the neck with fumbling
+fingers and pulled it down. "Maybe you can see
+as well here as anywhere."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh yes, never was a better light for the business,"
+said the vender, and he leaned forward, his
+eyes fixed sharply on the spot exposed between
+the widow's bony fingers. For a moment he said
+nothing. The woman's yellow breast lay flat and
+motionless. She scarcely breathed; her features
+were fixed by grim, fearful expectancy. He looked
+away from her, and then stooped to his pack to get
+a larger bottle. "I'm glad I happened to strike
+you just when I did, madam," he said. "Thar
+ain't no mistaking the charactericstics of a cancer
+when it's in its first stages. That's certainly what
+you've got, but I'm telling you God's holy truth
+when I say that by regular application and rubbing
+this stuff in for a month, night and morning, that
+thing will melt away like mist before a hot sun."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"So it really <em class="italics">is</em> one!" Jane breathed, despondently.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, it's a little baby one, madam, but this will
+nip it in the bud and save your life. It will take
+the dollar size, but you know it's worth it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh yes, I'll take it," Jane panted. "Put it
+there in the fence-corner among the weeds, and I'll
+come out to-night and get it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"All right," and the flask tinkled against a stone
+as it slid into its snug hiding-place among the
+Jamestown weeds nestling close to the rotting rails.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Here's your money. I reckon we'd better not
+stand here." And Jane gave it to him with quivering
+fingers. He folded the bill carefully, thrust
+it into a greasy wallet, and stooped to close his
+bag and throw the strap over his shoulder.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Now I'm going on to the next house," he said.
+"They tell me a curious sort of human specimen
+lives over thar—old Ann Boyd. Do you know,
+madam, I heard of that woman's tantrums at
+Springtown night before last, and at Barley yesterday.
+Looks like you folks hain't got much else to
+do but poke at her like a turtle on its back. Well,
+she must be a character! I made up my mind I'd
+take a peep at 'er. You know a travelling physician
+like I am can get at folks that sort o' hide from the
+general run."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jane Hemingway's heart sank. Why had it not
+occurred to her that he might go on to Ann Boyd's
+and actually reveal her affliction? Such men
+had no honor or professional reputation to defend.
+Suddenly she was chilled from head to foot by the
+thought that the peddler might even boast of her
+patronage to secure that of her neighbor—that was
+quite the method of all such persons. It was on
+her tongue actually to ask him not to go to Ann
+Boyd's house at all, but her better judgment told
+her that such a request would unduly rouse the
+man's curiosity, so she offered a feeble compromise.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Look here," she said, "I want it understood between
+us that—that you are to tell nobody about
+me—about my trouble. That woman over there
+is at outs with all her neighbors, and—and she'd
+only be glad to—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jane saw her error too late. It appeared to her
+now in the bland twinkle of amused curiosity in the
+stranger's face.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I understand—I understand; you needn't be
+afraid of me," the man said, entirely too lightly,
+Jane thought, for such a grave matter, and he
+pushed back the brim of his hat and turned. "Remember
+the directions, madam, a good brisk rubbing
+with a flannel rag—red if you've got it—soaked
+in the medicine, twice a day. Good-evening;
+I'll be off. I've got to strike some house whar
+they will let me stay all night. I know that old
+hag won't keep me, from all I hear."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The widow leaned despondently against the fence
+and watched him as he ploughed his way through
+the tall grass and weeds of the intervening marsh
+towards Ann Boyd's house. The assurance that the
+spot on her breast was an incipient cancer was bad
+enough without the added fear that her old enemy
+would possibly gloat over her misfortune. She remained
+there till she saw the vender approach Ann's
+door. For a moment she entertained the mild hope
+that he would be repulsed, but he was not.</p>
+<p class="pnext">She saw Ann's portly form framed in the doorway
+for an instant, and then the peddler opened
+the gate and went into the house. Heavy of heart,
+the grim watcher remained at the fence for half an
+hour, and then the medicine-vender came out and
+wended his way along the dusty road towards Wilson's
+store.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jane went into the house and sat down wearily.
+Virginia was sewing at a western window, and
+glanced at her in surprise.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What's the matter, mother?" she inquired, solicitously.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't know as there is anything wrong," answered
+Jane, "but I am sort o' weak. My knees
+shake and I feel kind o' chilly. Sometimes, Virginia,
+I think maybe I won't last long."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That's perfectly absurd," said the girl. "Don't
+you remember what Dr. Evans said last winter when
+he was talking about the constitutions of people?
+He said you belonged to the thin, wiry, raw-boned
+kind that never die, but simply stay on and dry up
+till they are finally blown away."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"He's not a graduated doctor," said Jane, gloomily.
+"He doesn't know everything."</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="vi">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id7">VI</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">A week from that day, one sultry
+afternoon near sunset, a tall mountaineer,
+very poorly clad, and his wife
+came past Wilson's store. They paused
+to purchase a five-cent plug of tobacco,
+and then walked slowly along the road in a dust
+that rose as lightly as down at the slightest foot-fall,
+till they reached Ann Boyd's house.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I'll stay out here at the gate," the man said.
+"You'll have to do all the talking. As Willard said,
+she will do more for Luke King's mother than she
+would for anybody else, and you remember how she
+backed the boy up in his objections to me as a
+step-daddy."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I'll do what I can," the woman said, plaintively.
+"You stay here behind the bushes. I
+don't blame you for not wanting to ask a favor of
+her, after all she said when we were married. She
+may spit in my face—they say she's so cantankerous."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Seating himself on a flat stone, the man cut the
+corner off of his tobacco-plug and began to chew it,
+while his wife, a woman about sixty-five years of
+age, and somewhat enfeebled, opened the gate and
+went in. Mrs. Boyd answered the gentle rap and
+appeared at the door.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Howdy do, Mrs. Boyd," the caller began. "I
+reckon old age hasn't changed me so you won't
+know me, although it's been ten years since me 'n'
+you met. I'm Mrs. Mark Bruce, that used to be
+Mrs. King. I'm Luke's mother, Mrs. Boyd."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I knew you when you and Mark Bruce turned
+the bend in the road a quarter of a mile away," said
+Ann, sharply, "but, the Lord knows, I didn't think
+you'd have the cheek to open my front gate and
+stalk right into my yard after all you've said and
+done against me."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The eyes of the visitor fell to her worn shoe,
+through which her bare toes were protruding. "I
+had no idea I'd ever do such a thing myself until
+about two hours ago," she said, firmly; "but folks
+will do a lots, in a pinch, that they won't ordinarily.
+You may think I've come to beg you to tell me if
+you know where Luke is, but I hain't. Of course,
+I'd like to know—any mother would—but he said
+he'd never darken a door that his step-father went
+through, and I told 'im, I did, that he could go, and
+I'd never ask about 'im. Some say you get letters
+from him. I don't know—that, I reckon, is your
+business."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You didn't come to inquire about your boy,
+then?" Ann said, curiously, "and yet here you are."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It's about your law-suit with Gus Willard that
+I've come, Ann. He told you, it seems, that he
+was going to fight it to the bitter end, and he <em class="italics">did</em>
+call in a lawyer, but the lawyer told him thar was no
+two ways about it. If his mill-pond backed water
+on your land to the extent of covering five acres,
+why, you could make him shet the mill up, even if
+he lost all his custom. Gus sees different now, like
+most of us when our substance is about to take wings
+and fly off. He sees now that you've been powerful
+indulgent all them years in letting him back water
+on your property to its heavy damagement, and he
+says, moreover, that, to save his neck from the
+halter, he cayn't blame you fer the action. He
+says he <em class="italics">did</em> uphold Brother Bazemore in what he
+said about burning the bench that was consecrated
+till you besmirched it, and he admits he talked it
+here an' yan considerably. He said, an' Gus was
+mighty nigh shedding tears, in the sad plight he's
+in, that you had the whip in hand now, and that
+his back was bare, an' ef you chose to lay on the
+lash, why, he was powerless, for, said he, he struck
+the fust lick at you, but he was doin' it, he thought,
+for the benefit of the community."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But," and the eyes of Ann Boyd flashed ominously,
+"what have <em class="italics">you</em> come for? Not, surely, to
+stand in my door and preach to me."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh no, Ann, that hain't it," said the caller,
+calmly. "You see, Gus is at the end of his tether;
+he's in an awful fix with his wife and gals in tears,
+and he's plumb desperate. He says you hain't the
+kind of woman to be bent one way or another by
+begging—that is, when you are a-dealing with folks
+that have been out open agin you; but now, as it
+stands, this thing is agoing to damage me and
+Mark awfully, fer Mark gets five dollars a month for
+helping about the mill on grinding days, and when
+the mill shets down he'll be plumb out of a job."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, I see!" and Ann Boyd smiled impulsively.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, that's the way of it," went on Mrs. Bruce,
+"and so Gus, about two hours ago, come over to
+our cabin with what he called his only hope, and
+that was for me to come and tell you about Mark's
+job, and how helpless we'll be when it's gone, and
+that—well, Ann, to put it in Gus's own words, he
+said you wouldn't see Luke King's mother suffer
+as I will have to suffer, for, Ann, we are having the
+hardest time to get along in the world. I was at
+meeting that day, and I thought what Bazemore
+said was purty hard on any woman, but I was mad
+at you, and so I set and listened. I'm no coward.
+If you do this thing you'll do it of your own accord.
+I cayn't get down on my knees to you, and I won't."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I see." Ann's face was serious. She looked
+past the woman down the dust-clouded road along
+which a man was driving a herd of sheep. "I don't
+want you on your knees to me, Cynthia Bruce. I
+want simple justice. I was doing the best I could
+when Bazemore and the community began to drive
+me to the wall, then I determined to have my rights—that's
+all; I'll have my legal rights for a while and
+see what impression it will make on you all. You
+can tell Gus Willard that I will give him till the first
+of July to drain the water from my land, and if he
+doesn't do it he will regret it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That's all you'll say, then?" said the woman at
+the step.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That's all I'll say."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I reckon you are right, Ann Boyd. I
+sorter begin to see what you've been put to all on
+account of that one false step away back when, I
+reckon, like all gals, you was jest l'arnin' what life
+was. Well, as that's over and done with, I wonder
+if you would mind telling me if you know anything
+about Luke. Me 'n' him split purty wide before he
+left, and I try to be unconcerned about him, but I
+cayn't. I lie awake at night thinking about him.
+You see, all the rest of my children are around me."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I'll say this much," said Ann, in a softened tone,
+"and that is that he is well and doing well, but I
+don't feel at liberty to say more."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, it's a comfort to know <em class="italics">that</em> much," said
+Mrs. Bruce, softly. "And it's nothing but just to
+you for me to say that it's due to you. The education
+you paid fer is what gave him his start in life,
+and I'll always be grateful to you fer it. It was
+something I never could have given him, and something
+none of the rest of my children got."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Boyd stood motionless in the door, her eyes
+on the backs of the pathetic pair as they trudged
+slowly homeward, the red sunset like a world in
+conflagration beyond them.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, she's the boy's mother," she mused, "and
+the day will come when Luke will be glad I helped
+her, as he would if he could see the poor thing now.
+Gus Willard is no mean judge of human nature.
+I'll let him stew awhile, but the mill may run on.
+I can't fight <em class="italics">everybody</em>. Gus Willard is my enemy,
+but he's open and above-board."</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="vii">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id8">VII</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">One morning about the first of May,
+Virginia Hemingway went to Wilson's
+store to purchase some sewing-thread
+she needed. The long, narrow
+room was crowded with farmers and
+mountaineers, and Wilson had called in several
+neighbors to help him show and sell his wares.
+Langdon Chester was there, a fine double-barrelled
+shot-gun and fishing-rod under his arm, wearing a
+slouch hat and hunter's suit, his handsome face well
+tanned by exposure to the sun in the field and on
+the banks of the mountain streams. He was buying
+a reel and a metallic fly that worked with a
+spring and was set like a trap. Fred Masters was
+there, lounging about behind the counters, and now
+and then "making a sale" of some small article
+from the shelves or show-cases. He had opened his
+big sample trunks at the hotel in Springtown, half
+a mile distant, and a buggy and pair of horses were
+at the door, with which he intended to transport the
+store-keeper to his sample-room as soon as business
+became quieter. Seeing the store so crowded, Virginia
+only looked in at the door and walked across
+the street and sat down in Mrs. Wilson's sitting-room
+to rest and wait for a better opportunity to get
+what she had come for.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Langdon Chester had recognized an old school-mate
+in the drummer, but he seemed not to care to
+show marked cordiality. However, the travelling
+man was no stickler for formality. He came from
+behind the counter and cordially slapped Langdon
+on the shoulder. "How are you, old chap?" he
+asked; "still rusticating on the old man's bounty,
+eh? When you left college you were going into the
+law, and soar like an eagle with the worm of Liberty
+in its beak skyward through the balmy air of politics,
+by the aid of all the 'pulls' of influential kin and
+money, but here you are as easy-going as of old."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It was the only thing open to me," Chester said,
+with a flush of vexation. "You see, my father's
+getting old, Masters, and the management of our big
+place here was rather too much for him, and so—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, I see!" And the drummer gave his old
+friend a playful thumb-thrust in the ribs. "And
+so you are helping him out with that gun and
+rod? Well, that's <em class="italics">one</em> way of doing business, but
+it is far from my method—the method that is
+forced on me, my boy. When you get to a town
+on the four-o'clock afternoon train and have to
+get five sample trunks from the train to a hotel,
+scrap like the devil over who gets to use the best
+sample-room, finally buy your way in through
+porters as rascally as you are, then unpack, see
+the best man in town, sell him, or lose your job,
+pack again, trunks to excess-baggage scales—more
+cash and tips, and lies as to weight—and you
+roll away at midnight and try to nap sitting bolt-upright
+in the smoker—well, I say, you won't find
+that sort of thing in the gun-and-fishing-pole line.
+It's the sort of work, Chester, that will make you
+wish you were dead. Good Lord, I don't blame you
+one bit. In England they would call you one of the
+gentry, and, being an only son, you could tie up
+with an heiress and so on to a green old age of high
+respectability; but as for me, well, I had to dig,
+and I went in for it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I had no idea you would ever become a drummer,"
+Langdon said, as he admired his friend's attire.
+Such tasty ties, shirts, and bits of jewelry
+that Masters wore, and such well brushed and
+pressed clothes were rarely seen in the country, and
+Langdon still had the good ideas of dress he had
+brought from college, and this was one extravagance
+his father cheerfully allowed him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It seemed the best thing for me," smiled the
+drummer. "I have a cousin who is a big stockholder
+in my house, and he got the job for me. I've
+been told several times by other members of the
+firm that I'd have been fired long ago but for that
+family pull. I've made several mistakes, sold men
+who were rotten to the core, and caused the house
+to lose money in several instances, and, well—poker,
+old man. Do you still play?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Not often, out here," said Langdon; "this is
+about the narrowest, church-going community you
+ever struck. I suppose you have a good deal of fun
+travelling about."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh yes, fun enough, of its kind." Masters
+laughed. "Like a sailor in every port, a drummer
+tries to have a sweetheart in every town. It makes
+life endurable; sometimes the dear little things meet
+you at the train with sweet-smelling flowers and
+embroidered neckties so long that you have to cut
+off the ends or double them. Have a cigar—they
+don't cost me a red cent; expense account stretches
+like elastic, you know. My house kicked once
+against my drinking and cigar entries, and I said,
+all right, I'd sign the pledge and they could tie a
+blue ribbon on me, if they said the word, but that
+half my trade, I'd discovered, never could see prices
+right except through smoke and over a bottle.
+Then, what do you think? Old man Creighton,
+head of the firm, deacon in a swell joss-house in
+Atlanta, winked, drew a long face, and said: 'You'll
+have to give the boy <em class="italics">some</em> freedom, I reckon. We
+are in this thing to pull it through, boys, and sometimes
+we may have to fight fire with fire or be left
+stranded.'"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"He's an up-to-date old fellow," Chester laughed.
+"I've seen him. He owns some fine horses. When
+a man does that he's apt to be progressive, no matter
+how many times he says his prayers a day."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, for an old duck, Creighton keeps at the
+head of the procession. I can generally get him to
+help me out when I get in a tight. He thinks I'm
+a good salesman. Once, by the skin of my teeth,
+I sold the champion bill in the history of the house.
+A new firm was setting up in business in Augusta,
+and I stocked three floors for them. It tickled old
+man Creighton nearly to death, for they say he
+walked the floor all night when the thing was hanging
+fire. There was a pile of profit in it, and it
+meant more, even, than the mere sale, for Nashville,
+Memphis, New Orleans, and Louisville men were as
+thick as flies on the spot. When I wired the news
+in the firm did a clog-dance in the office, and they
+were all at the train to meet me, with plug-hats on,
+and raised sand generally. Old Creighton drew me
+off to one side and wanted to know how I did it. I
+told him it was just a trick of mine, and tried to
+let it go at that, but he pushed me close, and I
+finally told him the truth. It came about over a
+game of poker I was playing with the head of the
+new firm. If I lost I was to pay him a hundred
+dollars. If he lost I was to get the order. He lost.
+I think I learned that 'palming' trick from you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Langdon laughed impulsively as he lighted the
+drummer's cigar. "And what did the old man say
+to that?" he inquired.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It almost floored him." Masters smiled. "He
+laid his hand on my shoulder. His face was as
+serious as I've seen it when he was praying in the
+amen corner at church, but the old duck's eyes were
+blazing. 'Fred,' he said, 'I want you to promise
+me to let that one thing alone—but, good gracious,
+if Memphis had sold that bill it would have hurt us
+awfully!'"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You were always fond of the girls," Chester remarked
+as he smoked. "Well, out here in the
+country is no place for them."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No place for them! Huh, that's <em class="italics">your</em> idea, is it?
+Well, let me tell you, Chester, I saw on the road as
+I came on just now simply the prettiest, daintiest,
+and most graceful creature I ever laid my eyes on.
+I've seen them all, too, and, by George, she simply
+took the rag off the bush. Slender, beautifully
+formed, willowy, small feet and hands, high instep,
+big, dreamy eyes, and light-brown hair touched with
+gold. She came out of a farm-house, walking like a
+young queen, about half a mile back. I made Ike
+drive slowly and tried to get her to look at me, but
+she only raised her eyes once."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Virginia Hemingway," Chester said, coldly.
+"Yes, she's pretty. There's no doubt about that."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You know her, then?" said the drummer, eagerly.
+"Say, old man, introduce a fellow."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Chester's face hardened. The light of cordiality
+died out of his eyes. There was a significant
+twitching of his lips round his cigar. "I really
+don't see how I could," he said, after an awkward
+pause, during which his eyes were averted. "You
+see, Masters, she's quite young, and it happens that
+her mother—a lonely old widow—is rather suspicious
+of men in general, and I seem to have displeased
+her in some way. You see, all these folks,
+as a rule, go regularly to meeting, and as I don't
+go often, why—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, I see," the drummer said. "But let me
+tell you, old chap, suspicious mother or what not,
+I'd see something of that little beauty if I lived here.
+Gee whiz! she'd make a Fifth Avenue dress and
+Easter hat ashamed of themselves anywhere but
+on her. Look here, Chester, I've always had a
+sneaking idea that sooner or later I'd be hit deep
+at first sight by some woman, and I'll be hanged
+if I know but what that's the matter with me right
+now. I've seen so many women, first and last,
+here and there, always in the giddy set, that I
+reckon if I ever marry I'd rather risk some pure-minded
+little country girl. Do you know, town
+girls simply know too much to be interesting. By
+George, I simply feel like I'd be perfectly happy
+with a little wife like the girl I saw this morning.
+I wish you could fix it so I could meet her this trip,
+or my next."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I—I simply can't do it, Masters." There was
+a rising flush of vexation in the young planter's face
+as he knocked the ashes from his cigar into a nail-keg
+on the floor. "I don't know her well enough,
+in the first place, and then, in the next, as I said,
+her mother is awfully narrow and particular. She
+scarcely allows the girl out of sight; if you once
+saw old Jane Hemingway you'd not fancy making
+love before her eyes."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I reckon Wilson knows the girl, doesn't
+he?" the drummer said.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Chester hesitated, a cold, steady gleam of the
+displeasure he was trying to hide flashed in his
+eyes.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't know that he knows her well enough for
+<em class="italics">that</em>," he replied. "The people round here think
+I'm tough enough, but you drummers—huh! some
+of them look on you as the very advance agents of
+destruction."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That's a fact," Masters sighed, "the profession
+is getting a black eye in the rural districts. They
+think we are as bad as show people. By George,
+there she is now!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, that's her," and the young planter glanced
+towards the front doorway through which Virginia
+Hemingway was entering. So fixed was the
+drummer's admiring gaze upon the pretty creature,
+that he failed to notice that his companion had
+quietly slipped towards the rear of the store. Chester
+stood for a moment in the back doorway, and then
+stepped down outside and made his way into the
+wood near by. The drummer sauntered behind
+the counter towards the front, till he was near the
+show-case at which the girl was making her purchase,
+and there he stood, allowing the fire of his
+cigar to die out as he watched her, while Wilson
+was exhibiting to her a drawer full of thread for her
+to select from.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"By all that's good and holy, she simply caps the
+stack!" Masters said to himself; "and to think that
+these galoots out here in the woods are not onto it.
+She'd set Peachtree Street on fire. I'm going to
+meet that girl if I have to put on old clothes and
+work for day wages in her mother's cornfield.
+Great goodness! here I am, a hardened ladies' man,
+feeling cold from head to foot on a hot day like this.
+I'm hit, by George, I'm hit! Freddy, old boy, this
+is the thing you read about in books. I wonder
+if—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">But she was gone. She had tripped out into the
+sunshine. He saw the yellow light fall on her
+abundant hair and turn it into a blaze of gold. As
+if dreaming, he went to the door and stood looking
+after her as she moved away on the dusty road.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I see you are killing time." It was George Wilson
+at his elbow. "I'll be through here and with
+you in a minute. My crowd is thinning out now.
+That's the way it comes—all in a rush; like a mill-dam
+broke loose."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, I'm in no hurry, Wilson," said Masters, his
+gaze bent upon the bushes behind which Virginia
+had just disappeared. "Say, now, old man, don't
+say you won't do it; the fact is, I want to be introduced
+to that girl—the little daisy you sold the
+thread to. By glory, she is the prettiest little
+thing I ever saw."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Virginia Hemingway!" said the store-keeper.
+"Yes, she's a regular beauty, and the gentlest,
+sweetest little trick in seven states. Well, Masters,
+I'll be straight with you. It's this way. You see,
+she really <em class="italics">is</em> full grown, and old enough to receive
+company, I reckon, but her mother, the old woman
+I told you about who hates Ann Boyd so thoroughly—well,
+she doesn't seem to realize that Virginia is
+coming on, and so she won't consent to any of the
+boys going near her. But old Jane can't make nature
+over. Girls will be girls, and if you put too
+tight a rein on them they will learn to slip the halter,
+or some chap will teach them to take the bit
+in their teeth."</p>
+<p class="pnext">A man came to Wilson holding a sample of syrup
+on a piece of wrapping-paper, to which he had applied
+his tongue. "What's this here brand worth?"
+he asked.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Sixty-five—best golden drip," was Wilson's
+reply. "Fill your jug yourself; I'll take your word
+for it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"All right, you make a ticket of it—jug holds two
+gallons," said the customer, and he turned away.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Say, Wilson, just a minute," cried the drummer;
+"do you mean that she—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, look here now," said the store-keeper. "I
+don't mean any reflection against that sweet girl,
+but it has become a sort of established habit among
+girls here in the mountains, when their folks hold
+them down too much, for them to meet fellows on
+the sly, out walking and the like. Virginia, as I
+started to say, is full of natural life. She knows
+she's pretty, and she wouldn't be a woman if she
+didn't want to be told so—though, to be so good-looking,
+she is really the most sensible girl I know."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You mean she has her fancies, then," said Masters,
+in a tone of disappointment.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't say she has." Wilson had an uneasy
+glance on a group of women bending over some
+bolts of calico, one of whom was chewing a sample
+clipped from a piece to see if it would fade. "But—between
+me and you now—Langdon Chester has
+for the last three months been laying for her. I see
+he's slipped away; I'd bet my hat he saw her just
+now, and has made a break for some point on the
+road where he can speak to her."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Chester? Why, the rascal pretended to me just
+now that he hardly knew her."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Wilson smiled knowingly. "That's his way. He
+is as sly as they make 'em. His daddy was before
+him. When it comes to dealing with women who
+strike their fancy they know exactly what they are
+doing. But Langdon has struck flint-rock in that
+little girl. He, no doubt, is flirting with all his
+might, but she'll have him on his knees before he's
+through with it. A pair of eyes like hers would
+burn up every mean thought in a man."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The drummer sighed, a deep frown on his brow.
+"You don't know him as well as I do," he said. "I
+knew him at college. George, that little trick
+ought not to be under such a fellow's influence
+I'm just a travelling man, but—well—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, what are you going to do about it—even
+if there <em class="italics">is</em> any danger?" said Wilson. "Get a drink
+in him, and Langdon, like his father, will fight at
+the drop of a hat. Conscience? He hasn't any.
+I sometimes wonder why the Almighty made them
+like they are, and other men so different, for it is only
+the men who are not bothered by conscience that
+have any fun in this life. One of the Chesters could
+drive a light-hearted woman to suicide and sleep
+like a log the night she was buried. Haven't I
+heard the old man laugh about Ann Boyd, and all
+she's been through? Huh! But I'm not afraid of
+that little girl's fate. She will take care of herself,
+and don't you forget it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I'm sorry for her," said Masters, "and
+I'm going to try to meet her. I'm tough, George—I'll
+play a game of cards and bet on a horse, and say
+light things to a pretty girl when she throws down
+the bars—but I draw the line at downright rascality.
+Once in a while I think of home and my own folks."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Now you are a-talking." And Wilson hurried
+away to a woman who sat in a chair holding a bolt
+of calico in her arms, as if it were her first-born
+child and the other women were open kidnappers.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Masters stood motionless in the doorway, his eyes
+on the dusty road that stretched on towards Jane
+Hemingway's house.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, she's in bad, <em class="italics">bad</em> hands," he said; "and
+she is the first—I really believe she's the first that
+ever hit me this hard."</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="viii">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id9">VIII</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">At dusk that day Ann Boyd went out
+to search for a missing cow. She
+crossed the greater part of her stretch
+of meadow-land in the foggy shadows,
+and finally found the animal mired to
+the knees in a black bog hidden from view by the
+high growth of bulrushes. Then came the task of
+releasing the patient creature, and Ann carried rails
+from the nearest fence, placing them in such a way
+that the cow finally secured a substantial footing
+and gladly sped homeward to her imprisoned calf.
+Then, to escape the labor of again passing through
+the clinging vines and high grass of the marsh, Ann
+took the nearest way to the main road leading from
+the store on to Jane Hemingway's cottage. She
+had just reached the little meeting-house, and a hot
+flush of anger at the memory of the insult passed
+upon her there was surging over her, when, happening
+to glance towards the graveyard in the rear of
+the building, she saw Virginia Hemingway and
+Langdon Chester, quite with the air of lovers, slowly
+walking homeward along a path which, if more
+rugged, led more directly towards the girl's home.
+Ann Boyd started and then stared; she could hardly
+credit the evidence of her sight—Virginia Hemingway
+and the scapegrace son of that man, of all
+men, together!</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Ah, ha!" she exclaimed, under her breath, and,
+falling back into the bushes which bordered the
+roadside, she stood tingling from head to foot with
+a new and unexpected sensation, her eager eyes on
+the loitering pair. "So <em class="italics">that's</em> it, is it? The young
+scamp has picked <em class="italics">her</em> out, devil that he is by blood
+and birth. Well, I might have known it. Who
+could know better than me what a new generation
+of that cursed stock would be up to? Right now
+he's the living image of what his father was at the
+same age. He's lying to her, too, with tongue,
+eyes, voice, and very bend of body. Great God,
+isn't she pretty? I never, in my best day, saw the
+minute that I could have held a candle to her, and
+yet they all said—but that makes no difference. I
+wonder why I never thought before that he'd pick
+her out. As much as I hate her mammy, and her,
+too, I must acknowledge she's sweet-looking. She's
+pure-minded, too—as pure of thought as I was away
+back there when I wore my hair in a plait. But
+that man will crush your purity, you little, blind
+kitten, crush it like a fresh violet under a horse's
+hoof; <em class="italics">he'll</em> teach you what life is. That's the business
+the Chesters are good at. But, look! I do
+believe she's holding off from him." Ann crept onward
+through the bushes to keep pace with the
+couple, now and then stretching her neck or rising
+to her full height on tiptoe.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"He hasn't been on her track very long," she
+mused, "but he has won the biggest part of his
+battle—he's got her to meet him privately. A
+sight of this would lay her old mammy out stiff
+as a board, but she'll be kept in the dark. That
+scamp will see to that part of the affair. But
+she'll know in the end. Somebody will tell her the
+truth. Maybe the girl will herself, when the awful,
+lonely pinch comes and there is no other friend
+in sight. <em class="italics">Then</em>, Jane Hemingway, it will all come
+home to you. Then you'll look back on the long,
+blood-hound hunt you've given another woman in
+the same plight. The Almighty is doing it. He's
+working it out for Jane Hemingway's life-portion.
+The girl is the very apple of her eye; she has often
+said she was the image of herself, and that, as her
+own marriage and life had come to nothing, she was
+going to see to it that her only child's path was
+strewn with roses. Well, Langdon Chester is strewing
+the roses thick enough. Ha, ha, ha!" the peering
+woman chuckled. "Jane can come along an'
+pick 'em up when they are withered and crumble
+like powder at the slightest touch. Now I really
+will have something to occupy me. I'll watch this
+thing take root, and bud, and leave, and bloom, and
+die. Maybe I'll be the first to carry the news to
+headquarters. I'd love it more than anything this
+life could give me. I'd like to shake the truth in
+Jane Hemingway's old, blinking eyes and see her
+unable to believe it. I'd like to stand shaking it
+in her teeth till she knew it was so, and then I honestly
+believe I'd fall right down in front of her and roll
+over and over laughing. To think that I, maybe <em class="italics">I</em>
+will be able to flaunt the very thing in her face
+that she has all these years held over me—the very
+thing, even to its being a son of the very scoundrel
+that actually bent over the cradle of my girlhood
+and blinded me with the lies that lit up his face."</p>
+<p class="pnext">A few yards away the pair had paused. Chester
+had taken the girl's hand and was gently stroking
+it as it lay restlessly in his big palm. For a moment
+Ann lost sight of them, for she was stealthily creeping
+behind the low, hanging boughs of the bushes
+to get nearer. She found herself presently behind
+a big bowlder. She no longer saw the couple, but
+could hear their voices quite distinctly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You won't even let me hold your hand," she
+heard him say. "You make me miserable, Virginia.
+When I am at home alone, I get to thinking over
+your coldness and indifference, and it nearly drives
+me crazy. Why did you jerk your hand away so
+quickly just now?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't see what you were talking to a drummer
+about me for, in a public place like that," the girl
+answered, in pouting tones.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, it was this way, Virginia—now don't be
+silly!" protested Chester. "You see, this Masters
+and I were at college together, and rather intimate,
+and down at the store we were standing talking
+when you came in the front to buy something. He
+said he thought you were really the prettiest girl
+he had ever seen, and he was begging me to introduce
+him to you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Introduce him!" Virginia snapped. "I don't
+want to know him. And so you stood there talking
+about me!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It was only a minute, Virginia, and I couldn't
+help it," Chester declared. "I didn't think you'd
+care to know him, but I had to treat him decently.
+I told him how particular your mother was, and
+that I couldn't manage it. Oh, he's simply daft
+about you. He passed you on the road this morning,
+and hasn't been able to talk about anything
+since. But who could blame him, Virginia? You
+can form no idea of how pretty you are in the eyes
+of other people. Frankly, in a big gathering of
+women you'd create a sensation. You've got what
+every society woman in the country would die to
+have, perfect beauty of face and form, and the most
+remarkable part about it is your absolute unconsciousness
+of it all. I've seen good-looking women
+in the best sets in Augusta and Savannah and
+Atlanta, but they all seem to be actually making
+up before your very eyes. Do you know, it actually
+makes me sick to see a woman all rigged out in a
+satin gown so stiff that it looks like she's encased
+in some metallic painted thing that moves on rollers.
+It's beauty unadorned that you've got, and it's the
+real thing."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't want to talk about myself eternally,"
+said Virginia, rather sharply, the eavesdropper
+thought, "and I don't see why you seem to think
+I do. When you are sensible and talk to me about
+what we have both read and thought, I like you
+better."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, you want me to be a sort of Luke King, who
+put all sorts of fancies in your head when you were
+too young to know what they meant. You'd better
+let those dreams alone, Virginia, and get down to
+everyday facts. My love for you is a reality. It's
+a big force in my life. I find myself thinking about
+you and your coldness from early morning till late
+at night. Last Monday you were to come to the
+Henry Spring, and I was there long before the time,
+and stayed in agony of suspense for four hours, but
+I had my walk for nothing."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I couldn't come," Ann Boyd heard the sweet
+voice say. "Mother gave me some work to do,
+and I had no excuse; besides, I don't like to deceive
+her. She's harsh and severe, but I don't like to do
+anything she would disapprove of."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You don't really care much for me," said Langdon—"that
+is the whole thing in a nutshell."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Virginia was silent, and Ann Boyd bit her lip
+and clinched her hands tightly. The very words
+and tone of enforced reproach came back to her
+across the rolling surf of time. She was for a moment
+lost in retrospection. The young girl behind
+the bushes seemed suddenly to be herself, her companion
+the dashing young Preston Chester, the
+prince of planters and slave-holders. Langdon's insistent
+voice brought back the present.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You don't care for me, you know you don't,"
+he was saying. "You were simply born with all
+your beauty and sweetness to drag me down to
+despair. You make me desperate with your maddening
+reserve and icy coldness, when all this hot
+fire is raging in me."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That's what makes me afraid of you," Virginia
+said, softly. "I admit I like to be with you, my
+life is so lonely, but you always say such extravagant
+things and want to—to catch hold of me, and
+kiss me, and—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, how can I help myself, when you are what
+you are?" Chester exclaimed, with a laugh. "I
+don't want to act a lie to you, and stand and court
+you like a long-faced Methodist parson, who begins
+and ends his love-making with prayer. Life is too
+beautiful and lovely to turn it into a funeral service
+from beginning to end. Let's be happy, little
+girl; let's laugh and be merry and thank our stars
+we are alive."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I won't thank my stars if I don't go on home."
+And Virginia laughed sweetly for the first time.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, I suppose we had better walk on," Langdon
+admitted, "but I'm not going out into the
+open road with you till I've had that kiss. No,
+you needn't pull away, dear—I'm going to have
+it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The grim eavesdropper heard Virginia sharply
+protesting; there was a struggle, a tiny, smothered
+scream, and then something waked in the breast of
+Ann Boyd that lifted her above her sordid self. It
+was the enraged impulse to dart forward and with
+her strong, toil-hardened hands clutch the young
+man by the throat and drag him down to the ground
+and hold him there till the flames she knew so well
+had gone out of his face. Something like a prayer
+sprang to her lips—a prayer for help, and then, in a
+flush of shame, the slow-gained habit of years came
+back to her; she was taking another view—this time
+down a darkened vista.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It's no business of mine," she muttered. "It's
+only the way things are evened up. After all,
+where would be the justice in one woman suffering
+from a thing for a lifetime and another going scot
+free, and that one, too, the daughter of the one person
+that has deliberately made a life miserable?
+No, siree! My pretty child, take care of yourself,
+I'm not your mother. If she would let me alone
+for one minute, maybe her eyes would be open to
+her own interests."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Laughing pleasantly over having obtained his
+kiss by sheer force, Langdon, holding Virginia's reluctant
+hand, led her out into an open space, and
+the watcher caught a plain view of the girl's profile,
+and the sight twisted her thoughts into quite another
+channel. For a moment she stood as if rooted
+to the ground behind the bushes which had shielded
+her. "That girl is going to be a hard one to fool,"
+she muttered. "I can see that from her high forehead
+and firm chin. Now, it really <em class="italics">would</em> be a joke
+on me if—if Jane Hemingway's offspring was to
+avoid the pitfall I fell into, with all the head I've
+got. Then, I reckon, Jane <em class="italics">could</em> talk; that, I reckon,
+would prove her right in so bitterly denouncing me;
+but will the girl stand the pressure? If she intends
+to, she's made a bad beginning. Meeting a chap
+like that on the sly isn't the best way to be rid of
+him, nor that kiss; which she let him have without
+a scratch or loss of a hair on his side, is another bad
+indication. Well, the game's on. Me 'n' Jane is on
+the track neck to neck with the wire and bandstand
+ahead. If the angels are watching this sport,
+them in the highest seats may shed tears, but it will
+be fun to the other sort. I'm reckless. I don't
+much care which side I amuse; the whole thing
+come up of its own accord, and the Lord of Creation
+hasn't done as much for my spiritual condition as
+the Prince of Darkness. I may be a she-devil, but
+I was made one by circumstances as naturally as a
+foul weed is made to grow high and strong by the
+manure around its root. And yet, I reckon, there
+must be <em class="italics">some</em> dregs of good left in my cup, for I felt
+like strangling that scamp a minute ago. But that
+may have been because I forgot and thought he was
+his daddy, and the girl was me on the brink of that
+chasm twenty years wide and deeper than the mystery
+of the grave of mankind. I don't know much,
+but I know I'm going to fight Jane Hemingway as
+long as I live. I know I'm going to do that, for
+I know she will keep her nose to my trail, and I
+wouldn't be human if I didn't hit back."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The lovers had moved on; their voices were growing
+faint in the shadowy distance. The gray dusk
+had fallen in almost palpable folds over the landscape.
+The nearest mountain was lost like the sight
+of land at sea. She walked on to her cow that was
+standing bellowing to her calf in the stable-lot.
+Laying her hand on the animal's back, Ann said:
+"I'm not going to milch you to-night, Sooky; I'm
+going to let your baby have all he wants if it fills
+him till he can't walk. I'm going to be better to
+you—you poor, dumb brute—than I am to Jane
+Hemingway."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Lowering the time-worn and smooth bars, she let
+the cow in to her young, and then, closing the opening,
+she went into her kitchen and sat down before
+the fire and pushed out her water-soaked feet to the
+flames to dry them.</p>
+<p class="pnext">In an iron pot having an ash-covered lid was a
+piece of corn-pone stamped with the imprint of her
+fingers, and on some smouldering coals was a skillet
+containing some curled strips of fried bacon. These
+things Ann put upon a tin plate, and, holding it in
+her lap, she began to eat her supper. She was normal
+and healthy, and therefore her excitement had
+not subdued her appetite. She ate as with hearty
+enjoyment, her mind busy with what she had heard
+and seen.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Ah, old lady!" she chuckled, "you can laugh
+fit to split your sides when a loud-mouthed preacher
+talks in public about burning benches, but your
+laugh is likely to come back in an echo as hollow as
+a voice from the grave. If this thing ends as I want
+it to end, I'll be with you, Jane, as you've managed
+to be with me all these years."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Till far in the night Ann sat nursing her new
+treasure and viewing it in all its possible forms,
+till, growing drowsy, from a long day of fatigue,
+she undressed herself, and, putting on a dingy
+gray night-gown, she crept into her big feather-bed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It all depends on the girl," was her last reflection
+before sleep bore her off. "She isn't a bit stronger
+than I was at about the same age, and I'll bet the
+Chester power isn't a whit weaker than it was.
+Well, time will tell."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Late in the night she was waked by a strange
+dream, and, to throw it out of mind, she rose and
+walked out into the entry and took a drink of water
+from the gourd. She had dreamed that Virginia
+had come to her bedraggled and torn, and had cried
+on her shoulder, and begged her for help and protection.
+In the dream she had pressed the girl's
+tear-wet face against her own and kissed her, and
+said: "I know what you feel, my child, for I've been
+through it from end to end; but if the whole world
+turns against you, come here to me and we'll live
+together—the young and old of the queerest fate
+known to womankind."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Ugh!" Ann ejaculated, with a shudder. "I
+wonder what's the matter with me." She went
+back to bed, lay down and drew her feet up under
+the sheets and shuddered. "To think I'd have a
+dream of that sort, and about <em class="italics">that woman's</em> child!"</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="ix">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id10">IX</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">It was the first Sunday in June. Mrs.
+Waycroft came along the stony hill-side
+road that slanted gently down
+from her house to Ann Boyd's. It
+was a dry, breezeless morning under
+an unclouded sun, and but for the earliness of the
+hour it would have been hot.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I was just wondering," she said to Ann, whom
+she found in the back-yard lowering a pail of butter
+into the well to keep it cool—"I was just wondering
+if you'd heard that a new man is to preach to-day.
+He's a Mr. Calhoun, from Marietta, a pretty good
+talker, I've heard."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, I didn't know it," said Ann, as she let the
+hemp rope slowly glide through her fingers, till,
+with a soft sound, the pail struck the dark surface
+of the water forty feet below. "How am I to hear
+such things? Through the whole week, unless you
+happen along, I only have a pack of negroes about
+me, and they have their own meetings and shindigs
+to go to."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Waycroft put her hand on the smooth,
+wooden windlass and peered down into the well.
+"This is a better place, Ann, to keep milk and butter
+cool than a spring-house, if you can just make
+folks careful about letting the bucket down. I got
+my well filled with milk from a busted jug once,
+when one of the hands, in a big hurry, pushed the
+bucket in and let it fall to the water."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Nobody draws water here but me," said Ann.
+She had fixed her friend with a steady, penetrating
+stare. She was silent for a moment, then she said,
+abruptly: "You've got something else to say besides
+that about the new preacher; I have got so
+I read you like a book. I watched you coming along
+the road. I could see you over the roof of the house
+when you was high up in the edge of the timber,
+and I knew by your step you had something unusual
+on your mind. Besides, you know good and
+well that I'd never darken the door of that house
+again, not if forty new preachers held forth there.
+No, you didn't come all the way here so early for
+that."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The other woman smiled sheepishly under her
+gingham bonnet.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I'm not going to meeting myself," she said,
+"and I reckon I was just talking to hear myself run
+on. I'm that away, you know."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You might learn not to beat the Old Nick around
+a stump with a woman like me," said Ann, firmly.
+"You know I go straight at a thing. I've found
+that it pays in business and everything else."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, then, I've come to tell you that I'm going
+over to Gilmer to-morrow to see my brother and his
+wife."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Ah, you say you are!" Ann showed surprise
+against her will. "Gilmer?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, you see, Ann, they've been after me for a
+long time, writing letters and sending word, so now
+that my crop is laid by I've not really got a good
+excuse to delay; seems like everything tends to pull
+me that way whether or no, for Pete McQuill is going
+over in the morning with an empty wagon, and, as
+he's coming back Thursday, why, it will just suit.
+I wouldn't want to stay longer than that."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The two women stood staring at each other in silence
+for a moment, then Ann shrugged her powerful
+shoulders and averted her eyes.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That wasn't <em class="italics">all</em> you come to say," she said, almost
+tremulously.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, it wasn't, Ann; I admit it wasn't <em class="italics">all</em>—not
+quite all."</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was another silence. Ann fastened the end
+of the rope to a strong nail driven in the wood-work
+about the well with firm, steady fingers, then she
+sighed deeply.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You see, Ann," Mrs. Waycroft gathered courage
+to say, "your husband and Nettie live about
+half a mile or three-quarters from brother's, and I
+didn't know but what you—I didn't know but
+what I might accidentally run across them."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ann's face was hard as stone. Her eyes, resting
+on the far-off blue mountains and foot-hills, flashed
+like spiritual fires. It was at such moments that the
+weaker woman feared her, and Mrs. Waycroft's glance
+was almost apologetic. However, Ann spoke first.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You may as well tell me, Mary Waycroft," she
+faltered, "exactly what you had in mind. I know
+you are a friend. You are a friend if there ever was
+one to a friendless woman. What was you thinking
+about? Don't be afraid to tell me. You could
+not hurt my feelings to save your life."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, then, I will be plain, Ann," returned the
+widow. "I have queer thoughts about you sometimes,
+and last night I laid awake longer than usual
+and got to thinking about the vast and good blessings
+I have had in my children, and from that I got
+to thinking about you and the only baby you ever
+had."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Huh! you needn't bother about <em class="italics">that</em>," said Ann,
+her lips quivering. "I reckon I don't need sympathy
+in that direction."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But I <em class="italics">did</em> bother; I couldn't help it, Ann; for,
+you see, it seems to me that a misunderstanding
+is up between you and Nettie, anyway. She's a
+grown girl now, and I reckon she can hardly remember
+you; but I have heard, Ann, that she's never
+had the things a girl of her age naturally craves.
+She's got her beaus over there, too, so folks tell me,
+and wants to appear well; but Joe Boyd never was
+able to give her anything she needs. You see, Ann,
+I just sorter put myself in your place, as I laid there
+thinking, and it struck me that if I had as much
+substance as you have, and was as free to give to
+the needy as you are, that, even if the law <em class="italics">had</em>
+turned my child over to another to provide for, that
+I'd love powerful to do more for it than he was able,
+showing to the girl, and everybody else, that the
+court didn't know what it was about. And, Ann,
+in that way I'd feel that I was doing my duty in
+spite of laws or narrow public opinion."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ann Boyd's features were working, a soft flush
+had come into her tanned cheeks, her hard mouth
+had become more flexible.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I've thought of that ten thousand times," she
+said, huskily, "but I have never seen the time I
+could quite come down to it. Mary, it's a sort of
+pride that I never can overcome. I feel peculiar
+about Net—about the girl, anyway. It seems to
+me like she died away back there in her baby-clothes,
+with her playthings—her big rag-doll and
+tin kitchen—and that I almost hate the strange,
+grown-up person she's become away off from me.
+As God is my Judge, Mary Waycroft, I believe I
+could meet her face to face and not feel—feel like
+she was any near kin of mine, I can't see no reason
+in this way of feeling. I know she had nothing to
+do with what took place, but she represents Joe
+Boyd's part of the thing, and she's lost her place in
+my heart. If she could have grown up here with
+me it would have been different, but—" Ann went
+no further. She stood looking over the landscape,
+her hand clutching her strong chin. There was an
+awkward silence. Some of Ann's chickens came up
+to her very skirt, chirping and springing open-mouthed
+to her kindly hand for food. She gently
+and absent-mindedly waved her apron up and down
+and drove them away.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I understand all that," said Mrs. Waycroft;
+"but I believe you feel that way just because you've
+got in the habit of it. I really believe you ought
+to let me"—the speaker caught her breath—"ought
+to just let me tell Nettie, when I see her,
+about what I know you to be at heart, away down
+under what the outside world thinks. And you
+ought to let me say that if her young heart yearns
+for anything her pa can't afford to buy, that I know
+you'd be glad, out of your bounty, to give it to her.
+I really believe it would open the girl's eyes and
+heart to you. I believe she'd not only accept your
+aid, but she'd be plumb happy over it, as any other
+girl in the same fix would be."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Do you think that, Mary? Do you think she'd
+take anything—a single thing from my hands?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I do, Ann, as the Lord is my Creator, I do; any
+natural girl would be only too glad. Young women
+hungering for nice things to put on along with
+other girls ain't as particular as some hide-bound
+old people. Then I'll bet she didn't know what it
+was all about, anyway."</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was a flush in Ann's strong neck and face
+to the very roots of her hair. She leaned against
+the windlass and folded her bare arms. "Between
+me and you, as intimate friends, Mary Waycroft,
+I'd rather actually load that girl down with things
+to have and wear than to have anything on the
+face of this earth. I'd get on the train myself and
+go clean to Atlanta and lay myself out. What she
+had to wear would be the talk of the country for
+miles around. I'd do it to give the lie to the court
+that said she'd be in better hands than in mine
+when she went away with Joe Boyd. Oh, I'd do
+it fast enough, but there's no way. She wouldn't
+propose it, nor I wouldn't for my life. I wouldn't
+run the risk of being refused; that would actually
+humble me to the dust. No, I couldn't risk
+that."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I believe, Ann, that I could do it for you in such
+a way that——"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, nobody could do it; it isn't to be done!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I started to say, Ann, that I believed I could
+kind o' hint around and find out how the land lies
+without using your name at all."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ann Boyd held her breath; her face became fixed
+in suspense. She leaned forward, her great eyes
+staring eagerly at her neighbor.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Do you think you could do that?" she asked,
+finally, after a lengthy pause. "Do you think you
+could do it without letting either of them know I
+was—was willing?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, I believe I could, and you may let it rest
+right here. You needn't either consent or refuse,
+Ann, but I'll be back here about twelve o'clock
+Thursday, and I'll tell you what takes place."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I'll leave the whole thing in your hands," said
+Ann, and she moved towards the rear door of her
+house. "Now"—and her tone was more joyful than
+it had been for years—"come in and sit down."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, I can't; I must hurry on back home," said
+the visitor. "I must get ready to go; Pete wants to
+make an early start."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You know you'll have plenty of time all this
+evening to stuff things in that carpet-bag of yours."
+Ann laughed, and her friend remarked that it was
+the first smile and joke she had heard from Ann
+Boyd since their girlhood together.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I will go in, then," said Mrs. Waycroft.
+"I love to see you the way you are now, Ann. It
+does my heart good."</p>
+<p class="pnext">But the mood was gone. Ann was serious again.
+They sat in the sitting-room chatting till the people
+who had been to meeting began to return homeward
+along the dusty road. Among them, in Sam Hemingway's
+spring wagon, with its wabbling wheels
+and ragged oil-cloth top, were Jane and her daughter
+Virginia, neither of whom looked towards the cottage
+as they passed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I see Virginia's got a new hat," commented Mrs.
+Waycroft. "Her mother raked and scraped to get
+it; her credit's none too good. I hear she's in debt
+up to her eyes. Every stick of timber and animal
+down to her litter of pigs—even the farm tools—is
+under mortgage to money-lenders that won't stand
+no foolishness when pay-day comes. I saw two of
+'em, myself, looking over her crop the other day
+and shaking their heads at the sight of the puny
+corn and cotton this dry spell. But she'd have the
+hat for Virginia if it took the roof from over her
+head. Her very soul's bound up in that girl.
+Looks like she thinks Virginia's better clay than
+common folks. They say she won't let her go with
+the Halcomb girls because their aunt had that talk
+about her."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"She's no better nor no worse, I reckon," said
+Ann, "than the general run of girls."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"There goes Langdon Chester on his prancing
+horse," said Mrs. Waycroft. "Oh, my! that <em class="italics">was</em>
+a bow! He took off his hat to Virginia and bent
+clean down to his horse's mane. If she'd been a
+queen he couldn't have been more gallant. For all
+the world, like his father used to be to high and low.
+I'll bet that tickled Jane. I can see her rear herself
+back, even from here. I wonder if she's fool
+enough to think, rascal as he is, that Langdon
+Chester would want to marry a girl like Virginia
+just for her good looks."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, he'll never marry her," Ann said, positively,
+and her face was hard, her eyes set in a queer stare
+at her neighbor. "He isn't the marrying sort. If
+he ever marries, he'll do it to feather his nest."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The visitor rose to go, and Ann walked with her
+out to the gate. Mrs. Waycroft was wondering if
+she would, of her own accord, bring up the subject
+of their recent talk, but she did not. With her
+hand on the gate, she said, however, in a non-committal
+tone:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"When did you say you'd be back?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Thursday, at twelve o'clock, or thereabouts,"
+was the ready reply.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, take good care of yourself," said Ann.
+"That will be a long, hot ride over a rough road
+there and back."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Going into her kitchen, Ann, with her roughly
+shod foot, kicked some live embers on the hearth
+under the pot and kettle containing her dinner,
+bending to examine the boiling string-beans and
+hunch of salt pork.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't feel a bit like eating," she mused,
+"but I reckon my appetite will come after I calm
+down. Let's see now. I've got two whole days to
+wait before she gets back, and then the Lord above
+only knows what the news will be. Seems to me
+sorter like I'm on trial again. Nettie was too
+young to appear for or against me before, but now
+she's on the stand. Yes, she's the judge, jury, and
+all the rest put together. I almost wish I hadn't
+let Mary Waycroft see I was willing. It may make
+me look like a weak, begging fool, and that's something
+I've avoided all these years. But the game
+is worth the risk, humiliating as it may turn out.
+To be able to do something for my own flesh and
+blood would give me the first joy I've had in many
+a year. Lord, Lord, maybe she will consent, and
+then I'll get some good out of all the means I've
+been piling up. Homely as they say she is, I'd
+like to fairly load her down till her finery would be
+the talk of the county, and shiftless Joe Boyd 'ud
+blush to see her rustle out in public. Maybe—I say
+<em class="italics">maybe</em>—nobody really knows what a woman will do—but
+maybe she'll just up and declare to him that
+she's coming back to me, where other things will
+match her outfit. Come back! how odd!—come
+back here where she used to toddle about and play
+with her tricks and toys, on the floor and in the yard.
+That would be a glorious vindication, and then—I
+don't know, but maybe I'd learn to love her. I'm
+sure I'd feel grateful for it—even—even if it was
+my money and nothing else that brought her to
+me."</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="x">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id11">X</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">To Ann Boyd the period between Mrs.
+Waycroft's departure and return was
+long and fraught with conflicting
+emotions. Strange, half-defined new
+hopes fluttered into existence like
+young birds in air that was too chill, and this state
+of mind was succeeded by qualms of doubt and
+fear not unlike the misgivings which had preceded
+the child's birth; for it had been during that time
+of detachment from her little world that Ann's life
+secret had assumed its gravest and most threatening
+aspect. And if she had not loved the child
+quite as much after it came as might have seemed
+natural, she sometimes ascribed the shortcoming
+to that morbid period which had been filled with
+lurking shadows and constantly whispered threats
+rather than the assurances of a blessed maternity.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Yes, the lone woman reflected, her kind neighbor
+had taken a reasonable view of the situation. And
+she tried valiantly to hold this pacifying thought
+over herself as she sat at her rattling and pounding
+loom, or in her walks of daily inspection over her
+fields and to her storage-houses, where her negro
+hands were at work. Yes, Nettie would naturally
+crave the benefits she could confer, and, to still
+darker promptings, Ann told herself, time after
+time, that, being plain-looking, the girl would all the
+more readily reach out for embellishments which
+would ameliorate that defect. Yes, it was not unlikely
+that she would want the things offered too
+much to heed the malicious and jealous advice of a
+shiftless father who thought only of his own pride
+and comfort. And while Ann was on this rack of
+disquietude over the outcome of Mrs. Waycroft's
+visit, there was in her heart a new and almost unusual
+absence of active hatred for the neighbors
+who had offended her. Old Abe Longley came by
+the second day after Mrs. Waycroft's departure.
+He was filled with the augmented venom of their
+last contact. His eyes flashed and the yellow
+tobacco-juice escaped from his mouth and trickled
+down his quivering chin as he informed her that
+he had secured from a good, law-abiding Christian
+woman the use of all the pasture-land he needed,
+and that she could keep hers for the devils' imps
+to play pranks on at night to her order. For just
+one instant her blood boiled, and then the thought
+of Mrs. Waycroft and her grave and spiritual mission
+cooled her from head to foot. She stared at
+the old man blankly for an instant, and then, without
+a word, turned into her house, leaving him astounded
+and considerably taken aback. That same
+day from her doorway she saw old Mrs. Bruce,
+Luke King's mother, slowly shambling along the
+road, and she went out and leaned on her gate till
+Mrs. Bruce was near, then she said, "Mrs. Bruce,
+I've got something to tell you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The pedestrian paused and then turned in her
+course and came closer.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You've heard from my boy?" she said, eagerly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, not since I saw you that day," said Ann.
+"But he's all right, Mrs. Bruce, as I told you, and
+prospering. I didn't come out to speak of him.
+I've decided to drop that law-suit against Gus Willard.
+He can keep his pond where it is and run his
+mill on."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, you don't mean it, surely you don't mean
+it, Ann!" the old woman cried. "Why, Gus was
+just back from Darley last night and said your
+lawyers said thar was to be no hitch in the proceedings;
+but, of course, if <em class="italics">you</em> say so, why—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I <em class="italics">do</em> say so," said Ann, in a tone which
+sounded strange and compromising even to herself.
+"I <em class="italics">do</em> say so; I don't want your husband to lose his
+job. Luke wouldn't like for you to suffer, either,
+Mrs. Bruce."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Then I'll go at once and tell Willard," said the
+older woman. "He'll be powerful glad, Ann, and
+maybe he will think as I do, an' as Luke always
+contended against everybody, that you had a lots o'
+good away down inside of you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Tell him what you want to," Ann answered,
+and she returned to her house.</p>
+<p class="pnext">On the morning she was expecting Mrs. Waycroft
+to return, Ann rose even before daybreak,
+lighting an abundant supply of pine kindling-wood
+to drive away the moist darkness, and bustling about
+the house to kill time. It was the greatest crisis of
+her rugged life; not even the day she was wedded
+to Joe Boyd could equal it in impending gravity.
+She was on trial for her life; the jury had been in
+retirement two days and nights carefully weighing
+the evidence for and against the probability of a
+simple, untutored country girl's acceptance of certain
+luxuries dear to a woman's heart, and would
+shortly render a verdict.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"She will," Ann said once, as she put her ground
+coffee into the tin pot to boil on the coals—"she will
+if she's like the ordinary girl; she won't if she's as
+stubborn as Joe or as proud as I am. But if she
+does—oh! if she does, won't I love to pick out the
+things! She shall have the best in the land, and
+she can wear them and keep them in the log-cabin
+her father's giving her till she will be willing to come
+here to this comfortable house and take the best
+room for herself. I don't know that I'd ever feel
+natural with a strange young woman about, but I'd
+go through it. If she didn't want to stay all the
+time, I'd sell factory stock or town lots and give
+her the means to travel on. She could go out and
+see the world and improve like Luke King's done.
+I'd send her to school if she has the turn and isn't
+past the age. It would be a great vindication for
+me. Folks could say her shiftless father took her
+off when she was too young to decide for herself, but
+when she got old enough to know black from white,
+and right from wrong, she obeyed her heart's promptings.
+But what am I thinking about, when right
+at this minute she may—?" Ann shrugged her
+shoulders as she turned from the cheerful fire and
+looked out on her fields enfolded in the misty robe
+of early morning. Above the dun mountain in the
+east the sky was growing yellow. Ann suddenly
+grew despondent and heaved a deep sigh.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Even if she <em class="italics">did</em> come here in the end, and I tried
+to do all I could," she mused, "Jane Hemingway
+would begin on her and make it unpleasant. She'd
+manage to keep all civilization away from the girl,
+and nobody couldn't stand that. No, I reckon the
+jig's up with me. I'm only floundering in a frying-pan
+that will cook me to a cinder in the end. This
+life's given me the power of making money, but it's
+yellow dross, and I hate it. It isn't the means to
+any end for me unless—unless—unless my dau—unless
+she <em class="italics">does</em> take Mrs. Waycroft's offer. Yes,
+she may—the girl actually may! And in that case
+she and I could run away from Jane Hemingway—clean
+off to some new place."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ann turned back to the fireplace and filled her
+big delft cup to the brim with strong coffee, and,
+blowing upon it to cool it, she gulped it down.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Let's see"—her musings ran on apace—"milching
+the three cows and feeding the cattle and horses
+and pigs and chickens will take an hour. I could
+stretch it out to that by mixing the feed-stuff for
+to-morrow. Then I could go to the loom and weave
+up all my yarn; that would be another hour. Then
+I might walk down to the sugar-mill and see if they
+are getting it fixed for use when the sorgum's ripe,
+but all that wouldn't throw it later than ten o'clock
+at latest, and there would still be two hours. Pete
+McQuill is easy on horses; he'll drive slow—a regular
+snail's pace; it will be twelve when he gets to
+the store, and then the fool may stop to buy something
+before he brings her on."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The old-fashioned clock on the mantel-piece indicated
+that it was half-past eleven when Ann had
+done everything about the house and farm she could
+think of laying her hands to, and she was about to
+sit down in the shade of an apple-tree in the yard
+when she suddenly drew herself up under the inspiration
+of an idea. Why not start down the road
+to meet the wagon? No, that would not do. Even
+to such a close friend as Mrs. Waycroft she could
+not make such an obvious confession of the impatience
+which was devouring her. But, and she
+put the after-thought into action, she would go to
+the farthest corner of her own land, where her
+premises touched the main road, and that was fully
+half a mile. She walked to that point across her
+own fields rather than run the chance of meeting
+any one on the road, though the way over ploughed
+ground, bog, fen, and through riotous growth of
+thistle and clinging briers was anything but an
+easy one. Reaching the point to which she had
+directed her steps, and taking a hasty survey of
+the road leading gradually up the mountain, she
+leaned despondently on her rail-fence.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"She won't, she won't—the girl won't!" she
+sighed. "I feel down in my heart of hearts that
+she won't. Joe Boyd won't let her; he'd see how
+ridiculous it would make him appear, and he'd
+die rather than give in, and yet Mary Waycroft
+knows something about human nature, and she said—Mary
+said—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Far up the road there was a rumble of wheels.
+Pete McQuill would let his horses go rapidly down-hill,
+and that, perhaps, was his wagon. It was.
+She recognized the gaunt, underfed white-and-bay
+pair through the trees on the mountain-side. Then
+Ann became all activity. She discovered that one
+of the rails of the panel of fence near by had quite
+rotted away, leaving an opening wide enough to
+admit of the passage of a small pig. To repair such
+a break she usually took a sound rail from some
+portion of the fence that was high enough to spare
+it, and this she now did, and was diligently at work
+when the wagon finally reached her. She did not
+look up, although she plainly heard Mrs. Waycroft's
+voice as she asked McQuill to stop.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You might as well let me out here," the widow
+said. "I'll walk back with Mrs. Boyd."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The wagon was lumbering on its way when Ann
+turned her set face, down which drops of perspiration
+were rolling, towards her approaching friend.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You caught me hard at it." She tried to smile
+casually. "Do you know patching fence is the
+toughest work on a farm—harder 'n splitting rails,
+that men complain so much about."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It's a man's work, Ann, and a big, strong one's,
+too. You ought never to tax your strength like
+that. You don't mean to tell me you lifted that
+stack of rails to put in the new one."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, but what's that?" Ann smiled. "I shouldered
+a hundred-and-fifty-pound sack of salt the
+other day, and it was as hard as a block of stone.
+I'm used to anything. But I'm through now.
+Let's walk on home and have a bite to eat."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You don't seem to care much whether—"
+Mrs. Waycroft paused and started again. "You
+haven't forgotten what I said I'd try to find out
+over there, have you, Ann?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Me? Oh no, but I reckon I'm about pegged out
+with all I've done this morning. Don't I look tired?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You don't looked tired—you look worried, Ann.
+I know you; you needn't try to hide your feelings
+from me. We are both women. When you are
+suffering the most you beat about the bush more
+than any other time. That's why this is going to
+be so hard for me."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It's going to be <em class="italics">hard</em> for you, then?" Ann's
+impulsive voice sounded hollow; her face had suddenly
+grown pale. "I know what <em class="italics">that</em> means. It
+means that Joe set his foot down against me and—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I wish I could tell you all, every blessed word,
+Ann, but you've already had too much trouble in
+this life, and I feel like I was such a big, ignorant
+fool to get this thing up and make such a mess of it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ann climbed over the fence and stood in the
+road beside her companion. Her face was twisted
+awry by some force bound up within her. She
+laid her big, toil-worn hand on Mrs. Waycroft's
+shoulder.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Now, looky here," she said, harshly. "I'm
+going to hear every word and know everything that
+took place. You must not leave out one single
+item. I've got the right to know it all, and I will.
+Now, you start in."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I hardly know how, Ann," the other woman
+faltered. "I didn't know folks in this world could
+have so little human pity or forgiveness."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You go ahead, do you hear me? You blaze
+away. I can stand under fire. I'm no kitten. Go
+ahead, I tell you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, Ann, I met Joe and Nettie day before yesterday
+at bush-arbor meeting. Joe was there, and
+looked slouchier and more downhearted than he
+ever did in his life, and Nettie was there with the
+young man she is about to marry—a tall, serious-faced,
+parson-like young man, a Mr. Lawson. Well,
+after meeting, while he was off feeding his horse, I
+made a break and got the girl by herself. Well,
+Ann, from all I could gather, she—well, she didn't
+look at it favorably."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Stop!" Ann cried, peremptorily, "I don't want
+any shirking. I want to hear actually every word
+she said. This thing may never come up between
+you and me again while the sun shines, and I want
+the truth. You are not toting fair. I want the
+facts—<em class="italics">every word the girl said</em>, every look, every
+bat of the eye, every sneer. I'm prepared. You
+talk plain—<em class="italics">plain</em>, I tell you!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I see I'll <em class="italics">have</em> to," sighed Mrs. Waycroft, her eyes
+averted from the awful stare in Ann's eyes. "The
+truth is, Ann, Nettie's been thinking all her life,
+till just about a month ago, that you were—dead.
+Joe Boyd told her you was dead and buried, and
+got all the neighbors to keep the truth from her.
+It leaked out when she got engaged to young Lawson;
+his folks, Ann, they are as hide-bound and
+narrow as the worst hard-shell Baptists here—his
+folks raised objections and tried to break it off."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"On account of me?" said Ann, under her breath.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, they tried to break it off," evaded Mrs.
+Waycroft, "and, in all the trouble over it, Nettie
+found out the facts—Joe finally told her. They
+say, Ann, that it brought her down to a sick-bed.
+She's a queer sort of selfish girl, that had always
+held her head too high, and the discovery went hard
+with her. Then, Ann, the meanest thing that was
+ever done by a human being took place. Jane
+Hemingway was over there visiting a preacher's
+wife she used to know, and she set in circulation the
+blackest lie that was ever afloat. Ann, she told over
+there that all your means—all the land and money
+you have made by hard toil, big brain, and saving—come
+to you underhand."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Underhand?" Ann exclaimed. "What did she
+mean by that, pray? What could the old she-cat
+mean by—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Waycroft drew her sun-bonnet down over
+her eyes. She took a deep breath. "Ann, she's a
+<em class="italics">terrible</em> woman. I used to think maybe you went
+too far in hating her so much, but I don't blame
+you now one bit. On the way over the mountain, I
+looked all the circumstances over, and actually made
+up my mind that you'd almost be justified in killing
+her, law or no law. Ann, she circulated a report
+over there that all you own in the world was
+given to you by Colonel Chester."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Ugh! Oh, my God!" Ann groaned like a strong
+man in sudden pain; and then, with her face hidden
+by her poke-bonnet, she trudged heavily along by
+her companion in total silence.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I've told you the worst now," Mrs. Waycroft
+said. "Nettie had heard all that, and so had Lawson.
+His folks finally agreed to raise no objections
+to the match if she'd never mention your name.
+Naturally, when I told her about what I thought
+<em class="italics">maybe</em>—you understand, <em class="italics">maybe</em>—you'd be willing to
+do she was actually scared. She cried pitifully, and
+begged me never to allow you to bother her. She
+said—I told you she looked like a selfish creature—that
+if the Lawsons were to find out that you'd
+been sending her messages it might spoil all. I
+told her it was all a lie of Jane Hemingway's making
+out of whole cloth, but the silly girl wouldn't
+listen. I thought she was going to have a spasm."</p>
+<p class="pnext">They had reached the gate, and, with a firm,
+steady hand, Ann opened it and held it ajar for her
+guest to enter before her.</p>
+<p class="pnext">They trudged along the gravel walk, bordered
+with uneven stones, to the porch and went in. On
+entering the house Ann always took off her bonnet.
+She seemed to forget its existence now.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, I hate that woman," Mrs. Waycroft heard
+her mutter, "and if the Lord doesn't furnish me
+with some way of getting even I'll die a miserable
+death. I could willingly see her writhe on a bed
+of live coals. No hell could be hot enough for that
+woman." Ann paused suddenly at the door, and
+gazed across the green expanse towards Jane's
+house. Mrs. Waycroft heard her utter a sudden,
+harsh laugh. "And I think I see her punishment
+on the way. I see it—I see it!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What is it you say you see?" the visitor asked,
+curiously.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, nothing!" Ann said, and she sat down
+heavily in her chair and tightly locked her calloused
+hands in front of her.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="xi">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id12">XI</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">The continuous dry weather during
+the month of June had caused many
+springs and a few wells to become dry,
+and the women of that section found
+it difficult to get sufficient soft water
+for the washing of clothes. Mrs. Hemingway,
+whose own well was fed from a vein of limestone
+water too hard to be of much use in that way, remembered
+a certain rock-bottom pool in a shaded
+nook at the foot of the rugged hill back of her
+house where at all times of the year a quantity of
+soft, clear water was to be found; so thither, with
+a great bundle of household linen tied up in a sheet,
+she went one morning shortly after breakfast.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Her secret ailment had not seemed to improve
+under the constant application of the peddler's
+medicine, and, as her doubts of ultimate recovery
+increased correspondingly, her strength seemed to
+wane. Hence she paused many times on the way
+to the pool to rest. Finally arriving at the spot
+and lowering her burden, she met a great and irritating
+surprise, for, bending over a tub at the
+edge of the pool, and quite in command of the only
+desirable space for the placing of tubs and the
+sunning of articles, was Ann Boyd. Their eyes met
+in a stare of indecision like that of two wild animals
+meeting in a forest, and there was a moment's preliminary
+silence. It was broken by an angry outburst
+from the new-comer. "Huh!" she grunted,
+"you here?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was quickly echoed by a satisfied laugh from
+the depths of Ann's sun-bonnet. "You bet, old
+lady, I've beat you to the tank. You've toted your
+load here for nothing. You might go down-stream
+a few miles and find a hole good enough for your
+few dirty rags. I've used about all this up. It's
+getting too muddy to do any good, but I've got
+about all I want."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"This land isn't yours," Jane Hemingway asserted,
+almost frothing at the mouth. "It belongs
+to Jim Sansom."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Jim may hold deeds to it," Ann laughed again,
+"but he's too poor to fence it in. I reckon it's
+public property, or you wouldn't have lugged that
+dirty load all the way through the broiling sun on
+that weak back of yours."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jane Hemingway stood panting over her big
+snowball. She had nothing to say. She could not
+find a use for her tongue. Through her long siege of
+underhand warfare against the woman at the tub
+she had wisely avoided a direct clash with Ann's
+eye, tongue, or muscle. She was more afraid of those
+things to-day than she had ever been. A chill of
+strange terror had gone through her, too, at the
+mention of her weak back. That the peddler had
+told Ann about the cancer she now felt was more
+likely than ever. Without a word, Jane bent to lift
+her bundle, but her enemy, dashing the water from
+her big, crinkled hands, had advanced towards her.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You just wait a minute," Ann said, sharply, her
+great eyes flashing, her hands resting on her stocky
+hips. "I've got something to say to you, and I'm
+glad to get this chance. What I've got to hurl in
+your death-marked face, Jane Hemingway, isn't
+for other ears. It's for your own rotting soul. Now,
+you listen!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jane Hemingway gasped. "Death-marked face,"
+the root of her paralyzed tongue seemed to articulate
+to the wolf-pack of fears within her. Her thin
+legs began to shake, and, to disguise the weakness
+from her antagonist's lynx eyes, she sank down upon
+her bundle. It yielded even to her slight weight,
+and her sharp knees rose to a level with her chin.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't want to talk to you," she managed to
+say, almost in a tone of appeal.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, I know that, you trifling hussy, but I do
+to you, Jane Hemingway. I'm going to tell you
+what you are. You are worse than a thief—than
+a negro thief that steals corn from a crib at night,
+or meat from a smoke-house. You are a low-lived,
+plotting liar. For years you have railed out against
+my character. I was a bad woman because I admitted
+my one fault of girlhood, but you married a
+man and went to bed with him that you didn't love
+a speck. You did that to try to hide a real love for
+another man who was another woman's legal husband.
+Are you listening?—I say, are you <em class="italics">listening</em>?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, I'm listening," faltered Jane Hemingway,
+her face hidden under her bonnet.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, you'd better. When I had my first great
+trouble, God is witness to the fact that I thought I
+loved the young scamp who brought it about. I
+<em class="italics">thought</em> I loved him, anyway. That's all the excuse
+I had for not listening to advice of older people.
+I wasn't old enough to know right from wrong, and,
+like lots of other young girls, I was bull-headed. My
+mother never was strict with me, and nobody else was
+interested in me enough to learn me self-protection.
+I've since then been through college in that line, and
+such low, snaky agents of hell as you are were my
+professors. No wonder you have hounded me all
+these years. You loved Joe Boyd with all the soul
+you had away back there, and you happened to be
+the sort that couldn't stand refusal. So when you
+met him that day on the road, and he told you he
+was on the way to ask me the twentieth time to be
+his wife, you followed him a mile and fell on his
+neck and threatened suicide, and begged and cried
+and screamed so that the wheat-cutting gang at
+Judmore's wondered if somebody's house was afire.
+But he told you a few things about what he thought
+of me, and they have rankled with you through
+your honeymoon with an unloved husband, through
+your period of childbirth, and now as you lean over
+your grave. Bad woman that you are, you married
+a man you had no respect for to hide your disappointment
+in another direction. You are decent
+in name only. Thank God, my own conscience is
+clear. I've been wronged all my life more than I
+ever wronged beast or man. I had trouble; but I
+did no wrong according to my dim lights. But you—you
+with one man's baby on your breast went on
+hounding the wife of another who had won what
+you couldn't get. You, I reckon, love Joe Boyd to
+this day, and will the rest of your life. I reckon
+you thought when he left me that he would marry
+you, but no man cares for a woman that cries after
+him. You even went over there to Gilmer a month
+or so ago to try to attract his attention with new
+finery bought on a credit, and you even made up to
+the daughter that was stolen from me, but I have it
+from good authority that neither one of them wanted
+to have anything to do with you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"There's not a bit of truth in that," said the
+weaker woman, in feeble self-defence. She would
+have said some of the things she was always saying
+to others but for fear that, driven further, the strong
+woman might actually resort to violence. No, there
+was nothing for Jane Hemingway to do but to listen.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, I don't care what you deny," Ann hurled
+at her. "I know what I'm talking about." Then
+Ann's rage led her to say something which, in calmer
+mood, she would, for reasons of her own, not have
+even hinted at. "Look here, Jane," she went on,
+bending down and touching the shrinking shoulder
+of her enemy, "in all your life you never heard me
+accused of making false predictions. When I say
+a thing, folks know that I know what I'm talking
+about and look for it to happen. So now I say,
+positively, that I'm going to get even with you.
+Hell and all its inmates have been at your back for
+a score of years, but God—Providence, the law of
+nature, or whatever it is that rights wrong—is bound
+to prevail, and you are going to face a misfortune—a
+certain sort of misfortune—that I know all about.
+I reckon I'm making a fool of myself in preparing
+you for it, but I'm so glad it's coming that I've got
+to tell it to somebody. When the grim time comes
+I want you to remember that you brought it on
+yourself."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ann ceased speaking and stood all of a quiver
+before the crouching creature. Jane Hemingway's
+blood, at best sluggish of action, turned cold.
+With her face hidden by her bonnet, she sat staring
+at the ground. All her remaining strength seemed
+to have left her. She well knew what Ann meant.
+The peddler had told her secret—had even revealed
+more of the truth than he had to her. Discovering
+that Ann hated her, he had gone into grim and minute
+particulars over her affliction. He had told Ann
+the cancer was fatal, that the quack lotion he had
+sold would only keep the patient from using a better
+remedy or resorting to the surgeon's knife. In any
+case, her fate was sealed, else Ann would not be so
+positive about it.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I see I hit you all right that pop, madam!" Ann
+chuckled. "Well, you will wait the day in fear and
+trembling that is to be my sunrise of joy. Now,
+pick up your duds and go home. I want you out of
+my sight."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Like a subject under hypnotic suggestion, Jane
+Hemingway, afraid of Ann, and yet more afraid of
+impending fate, rose to her feet. Ann had turned
+back to her tub and bent over it. Jane felt a feeble
+impulse to make some defiant retort, but could not
+rouse her bound tongue to action. In her helplessness
+and fear she hated her enemy more than ever
+before, but could find no adequate way of showing it.
+The sun had risen higher and its rays beat fiercely
+down on her thin back, as she managed to shoulder
+her bundle and move homeward.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="xii">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id13">XII</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">She had scarcely turned the bend in
+the path, and was barely out of Ann's
+view, when she had to lower her bundle
+and rest. Seated on a moss-grown
+stone near the dry bed of the stream
+which had fed Ann's pool before the drought, she
+found herself taking the most morbid view of her
+condition. The delicate roots of the livid growth
+on her breast seemed to be insidiously burrowing
+more deeply towards her heart than ever before.
+Ah, what a fool she had been at such a crisis to listen
+to an idle tramp, who had not only given her a
+stone when she had paid for bread, but had revealed
+her secret to the one person she had wished to keep
+it from! But she essayed to convince herself that all
+hope was not gone, and the very warning Ann had
+angrily uttered might be turned to advantage. She
+would now be open about her trouble, since Ann
+knew it, anyway, and perhaps medical skill might
+help her, even yet, to triumph. Under that faint
+inspiration she shouldered her burden and crept
+slowly homeward.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Reaching her cottage, she dropped the ball of
+clothes at the door and went into the sitting-room,
+where Virginia sat complacently sewing at a window
+on the shaded side of the house. The girl had only a
+few moments before washed her long, luxuriant hair,
+and it hung loose and beautiful in the warm air.
+She was merrily singing a song, and hardly looked at
+her mother as she paused near her.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Hush, for God's sake, hush!" Jane groaned.
+"Don't you see I'm unable to stand?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">In sheer astonishment Virginia turned her head
+and noticed her mother's pale, long-drawn face.
+"What is it, mother, are you sick?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">By way of reply the old woman sank into one of
+the hide-bottomed chairs near the open doorway
+and groaned again. Quickly rising, and full of
+grave concern, the girl advanced to her. Standing
+over the bowed form, she looked out through the
+doorway and saw the bundle of clothes.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You don't mean to tell me, mother, that you
+have carried that load all about looking for water
+to wash in!" she exclaimed, aghast.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, I took them to the rock-pool and back; but
+that ain't it," came from between Jane's scrawny
+hands, which were now spread over her face. "I
+am strong enough bodily, still, but I met Ann Boyd
+down there. She had all the place there was, and
+had muddied up the water. Virginia, she knows
+about that spot on my breast that the medicine
+peddler said was a cancer. She wormed it out of
+him. He told her more than he did me. He told
+her it would soon drag me to the grave. It's a great
+deal worse than it was before I began to rub his
+stuff on it. He's a quack. I was a fool not to go
+to a regular doctor right at the start."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You think, then, that it really <em class="italics">is</em> a cancer?"
+gasped the girl, and she turned pale.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, I have no doubt of it now, from the way it
+looks and from the way that woman gloated over
+me. She declared she knew all about it, and that
+nothing on earth had made her so glad. I want to
+see Dr. Evans. I wish you'd run over to his house
+and have him come."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But he's not a regular doctor," protested the
+girl, mildly. "They say he is not allowed to practise,
+and that he only uses remedies of his own
+making. The physicians at Darley were talking of
+having him arrested not long ago."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, I know all that," Jane said, petulantly,
+"but that's because he cured one or two after they
+had been given up by licensed doctors. He knows
+a lots, and he will tell me, anyway, whether I've
+got a cancer or not. He knows what they are. He
+told Mrs. Hiram Snodgrass what her tumor was,
+and under his advice she went to Atlanta and had
+it cut out, and saved her life when two doctors was
+telling her it was nothing but a blood eruption that
+would pass off. You know he is good-hearted."</p>
+<p class="pnext">With a troubled nod, Virginia admitted that this
+was true. Her sweet mouth was drawn down in
+pained concern, a stare of horror lay in her big,
+gentle eyes. "I'll go bring him," she promised.
+"I saw him pass with a bag of meal from the mill
+just now."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, tell him not to say anything about it,"
+Jane cautioned her. "Evidently Ann Boyd has not
+talked about it much, and I don't want it to be all
+over the neighborhood. I despise pity. I'm not
+used to it. If it gets out, the tongues of these busy-bodies
+would run me stark crazy. They would
+roost here like a swarm of buzzards over a dying
+horse."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Virginia returned in about half an hour, accompanied
+by a gray-headed and full-whiskered man of
+about seventy years of age, who had any other than
+the look of even a country doctor. He wore no
+coat, and his rough shirt was without button from
+his hairy neck to the waistband of his patched and
+baggy trousers. His fat hands were too much
+calloused by labor in the field and forest, and by
+digging for roots and herbs, to have felt the pulse
+of anything more delicate than an ox, and under
+less grave circumstances his assumed air of the regular
+visiting physician would have had its comic
+side.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Virginia tells me you are a little upset to-day,"
+he said, easily, after he had gone to the water-bucket
+and taken a long, slow drink from the gourd.
+He sat down in a chair near the widow, and laid his
+straw hat upon the floor, from which it was promptly
+removed by Virginia to one of the beds. "Let
+me take a look at your tongue."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I'll do no such of a thing," retorted Jane, most
+flatly. "There is nothing wrong with my stomach.
+I am afraid I've got a cancer on my breast, and I
+want to make sure."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You don't say!" Evans exclaimed. "Well, it
+wouldn't surprise me. I see 'em mighty often these
+days. Well, you'd better let me look at it. Stand
+thar in the door so I can get a good light. I'm wearing
+my wife's specks. I don't know whar I laid mine,
+but I hope I'll get 'em back. I only paid twenty-five
+cents for 'em in Darley, and yet three of my
+neighbors has taken such a liking to 'em that I've
+been offered as high as three dollars for 'em, and
+they are only steel rims and are sorter shackly at
+the hinges at that. Every time Gus Willard wants
+to write a letter he sends over for my specks and
+lays his aside. I reckon he thinks I'll get tired
+sendin' back for 'em and get me another pair. Now,
+that's right"—Mrs. Hemingway had taken a
+stand in one of the rear doors and unbuttoned her
+dress. Despite her stoicism, she found herself holding
+her breath in fear and suspense as to what his
+opinion would be. Virginia, pale and with a fainting
+sensation, sat on the edge of the nearest bed,
+her shapely hands tightly clasped in her lap. She
+saw Dr. Evans bend close to her mother's breast
+and touch and press the livid spot.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Do you feel that?" he asked.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, and it hurts some when you do that."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"How long have you had it thar?" he paused
+in his examination to ask, peering over the rims of
+his spectacles.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I noticed it first about a year ago, but thought
+nothing much about it," she answered.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And never showed it to nobody?" he said, reprovingly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I let a peddler, who had stuff to sell, see it awhile
+back." There was a touch of shame in Jane's face.
+"He said his medicine would make it slough off,
+but—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Slough nothing! That trifling skunk!" Evans
+cried. "Why, he's the biggest fake unhung! He
+sold that same stuff over the mountain to bald-headed
+men to make hair grow. Huh, I say! they
+talk about handling <em class="italics">me</em> by law, and kicking <em class="italics">me</em> out
+of the country on account of my knowledge and
+skill, and let chaps like him scour the country from
+end to end for its last cent. What the devil gets
+into you women? Here you've let this thing go on
+sinking its fangs deeper and deeper in your breast,
+and only fertilizing it by the treatment he was giving
+you. Are you hankering for a change of air?
+Thar was Mrs. Telworthy, that let her liver run on
+till she was as yaller as a pumpkin with jaundice
+before she'd come to me. I give 'er two bottles of
+my purifier, and she could eat a barbecued ox in
+a month."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What do you think I ought to do about this?"
+asked Jane; and Virginia, with strange qualms at
+heart, thought that her mother had put it that
+way to avoid asking if the worst was really to be
+faced.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Evans stroked his bushy beard wisely. "Do
+about it?" he repeated, as he went back to his chair,
+leaving the patient to button her dress with stiff,
+fumbling fingers. "I mought put you on a course
+of my blood purifier and wait developments, and,
+Sister Hemingway, if I was like the regular run
+of doctors, with their own discoveries on the market,
+I'd do it in the interest of science, but I'm not
+going to take the resk on my shoulders. A man
+who gives domestic remedies like mine is on safe
+ground when he's treating ordinary diseases, but
+I reckon a medical board would decide that this was
+a case for a good, steady knife. Now, I reckon
+you'd better get on the train and take a run down
+to Atlanta and put yourself under Dr. Putnam, who
+is noted far and wide as the best cancer expert in
+the land."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Then—then that's what it is?" faltered Mrs.
+Hemingway.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh yes, that's what you've got, all right
+enough," said Evans, "and the thing now is to
+uproot it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"How—how much would it be likely to cost?"
+the widow asked, her troubled glance on Virginia's
+horror-stricken face.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That depends," mused Evans. "I've sent Putnam
+a number of cases, and he would, I think, make
+you a special widow-rate, being as you and me live
+so nigh each other. At a rough guess, I'd say that
+everything—board and room and nurse, treatment,
+medicines, and attention—would set you back a hundred
+dollars."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But where am I to get that much money?" Jane
+said, despondently.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, thar you have me," Evans laughed. "I
+reckon you know your resources better than anybody
+else, but you'll have to rake it up some way.
+You ain't ready to die yet. Callihan has a mortgage
+on your land, hain't he?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, and on my crop not yet gathered," Jane
+sighed; "he even included every old hoe and axe
+and piece of harness, and the cow and calf, and every
+chair and knife and fork and cracked plate in the
+house."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well," and Evans rose and reached for his hat,
+"as I say, you'll have to get up the money; it will
+be the best investment you could make."</p>
+<p class="pnext">When he had left, Virginia, horror-stricken, sat
+staring at her mother, a terrible fear in her face and
+eyes.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Then it really <em class="italics">is</em> a cancer?" she gasped.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, I was afraid it was all along," said Jane.
+"You see, the peddler said so plainly, and he told
+Ann Boyd about it. Virginia, she didn't know I knew
+how bad it was, for she hinted at some awful end
+that was to overtake me, as if it would be news to me.
+Daughter, I'm going to try my level best to throw
+this thing off. I always had a fear of death. My
+mother had before me; she was a Christian woman,
+and was prepared, if anybody was, and yet she died
+in agony. She laid in bed and begged for help with
+her last breath. But my case is worse than hers,
+for my one foe in this life is watching over me like
+a hawk. Oh, I can't stand it! You must help me
+study up some way to raise that money. If it was
+in sight, I'd feel better. Doctors can do wonders
+these days, and I'll go to that big one if I possibly
+can."</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="xiii">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id14">XIII</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">One afternoon, about a week later, as
+Ann Boyd sat in her weaving-room
+twisting bunches of carded wool into
+yarn on her old spinning-wheel, the
+whir of which on her busy days could
+be heard by persons passing along the road in front
+of her gate, a shadow fell on her floor, and, looking
+up, she saw a tall, handsome young man in the doorway,
+holding his hat in one hand, a valise in the
+other. He said nothing, but only stood smiling, as if
+in hearty enjoyment of the surprise he was giving her.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Luke King!" she exclaimed. "You, of all people
+on the face of the earth!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, Aunt Ann"—he had always addressed
+her in that way—"here I am, like a bad coin, always
+turning up."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The yellow bunches of wool fell to the floor as
+she rose up and held out her hand.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You know I'm glad to see you, my boy," she
+said, "but I wasn't expecting you; I don't know
+as I ever looked for you to come back here again,
+where you've had such a hard time of it. When
+you wrote me you was the chief editor of a paying
+paper out there, I said to myself that you'd never
+care to work here in the mountains, where there is
+so little to be made by a brainy man."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"If I were to tell you the main thing that brought
+me back you'd certainly scold me," he laughed;
+"but I never hid a fault from you, Aunt Ann. The
+truth is, good, old-fashioned home-sickness is at the
+bottom of it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Homesickness, for <em class="italics">this</em>?" Ann sneered contemptuously,
+as she waved her hand broadly—"homesick
+for the hard bed you had at your step-father's,
+in a pine-pole cabin, with a mud chimney
+and windows without glass, when you've been
+the equal, out there, of the highest and best in the
+land, and among folks that could and would appreciate
+your talents and energy and were able to pay
+cash for it at the highest market-price?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You don't understand, Aunt Ann." He flushed
+sensitively under her stare of disapproval as he
+sat down in a chair near her wheel. "Maybe you
+never did understand me thoroughly. I always had
+a big stock of sentiment that I couldn't entirely
+kill. Aunt Ann, all my life away has only made me
+love these old mountains, hills, and valleys more
+than ever, and, finally, when a good opportunity
+presented itself, as—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, you are just like the rest, after all. I'd hoped
+to the contrary," Ann sighed. "But don't think
+I'm not glad to see you, Luke." Her voice shook
+slightly. "God knows I've prayed for a sight of
+the one face among all these here in the mountains
+that seemed to respect me, but there was another
+side to the matter. I wanted to feel, Luke, that I
+had done you some actual good in the world—that
+the education I helped you to get was going to lift
+you high above the average man. When you wrote
+about all your good-luck out there, the big salary,
+the interest the stockholders had given you in the
+paper that bid fair to make a pile of money, and
+stood so high in political influence, I was delighted;
+but, Luke, if a sentimental longing for these heartless
+red hills and their narrow, hide-bound inhabitants
+has caused you actually to throw up—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, it's really not so bad as that," King hastened
+to say. "The truth is—though I really <em class="italics">was</em>
+trying to keep from bragging about my good-fortune
+before I'd had a chance to ask after your health—the
+truth is, Aunt Ann, it's business that really
+brings me back, though I confess it was partly for
+sentimental reasons that I decided on the change.
+It's this way: A company has been formed in Atlanta
+to run a daily paper on somewhat similar lines to
+the one we had in the West, and the promoters of
+it, it seems, have been watching my work, and that
+sort of thing, and so, only a few days ago, they
+wrote offering me a good salary to assume chief
+charge and management of the new paper. At
+first I declined, in a deliberate letter, but they
+wouldn't have it that way—they telegraphed me
+that they would not listen to a refusal, and offered
+me the same financial interest as the one I held."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Ah, they did, eh?" Ann's eye for business was
+gleaming. "They offered you as good as you had?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Better, as it has turned out, Aunt Ann," said
+King, modestly, "for when my associates out there
+read the proposition, they said it was my duty to
+myself to accept, and with that they took my stock
+off my hands. They paid me ten thousand dollars
+in cash, Aunt Ann. I've got that much ready
+money and a position that is likely to be even better
+than the one I had. So, you see, all my home-sickness—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Ten thousand dollars!" Ann cried, her strong
+face full of gratification. "Ten thousand dollars
+for my sturdy mountain-boy! Ah, that will open
+the eyes of some of these indolent know-it-all louts
+who said the money spent on your education was
+thrown in the fire. You are all right, Luke. I'm
+a judge of human stock as well as cattle and horses.
+If you'd been a light fellow you'd have dropped me
+when you began to rise out there; but you didn't.
+Your letters have been about the only solace I've
+had here in all my loneliness and strife, and here
+you are to see me as soon as you come—that is, I
+reckon, you haven't been here many days."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I got to Darley at two o'clock to-day," King
+smiled, affectionately. "I took the hack to Springtown
+and left my trunk there, to walk here. I
+haven't seen mother yet, Aunt Ann. I had to see
+you first."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You are a good boy, Luke," Ann said, with
+feeling, as was indicated by her husky voice and
+the softening of her features. "So you <em class="italics">are</em> going
+to see your mother?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, I'm going to see her, Aunt Ann. For several
+years I have felt resentment about her marrying
+as she did, but, do you know, I think success and
+good-fortune make one forgiving. Somehow, with
+all my joy over my good-luck, I feel like I'd like to
+shake even lazy old Mark Bruce by the hand and
+tell him I am willing to let by-gones be by-gones.
+Then, if I could, I'd like to help him and my mother
+and step-brother and step-sisters in some material
+way."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Huh! I don't know about that," Ann frowned.
+"Help given to them sort is certainly throwed away;
+besides, what's yours is yours, and if you started in
+to distribute help you'll be ridden to death. No,
+go to see them if you <em class="italics">have</em> to, but don't let them
+wheedle your justly earned money out of you. They
+don't deserve it, Luke."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, well, we'll see about it," King laughed,
+lightly. "You know old Bruce may kick me out
+of the house, and if mother stood to him in it
+again"—King's eyes were flashing, his lip was
+drawn tight—"I guess I'd never go back any more,
+Aunt Ann."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Old Mark would never send you away if he
+thought you had money," Ann said, cynically. "If
+I was you I'd not let them know about that. You
+see, you could keep them in the dark easily enough,
+for I've told them absolutely nothing except that
+you were getting along fairly well."</p>
+<p class="pnext">King smiled. "They never would think I had
+much to judge by this suit of clothes," he said. "It
+is an old knockabout rig I had to splash around in
+the mud in while out hunting, and I put it on this
+morning—well, just because I did not want to come
+back among all my poor relatives and friends
+dressed up as I have been doing in the city, Aunt
+Ann," he laughed, as if making sport of himself.
+"I've got a silk high-hat as slick as goose-grease,
+and a long jimswinger coat, and pants that are always
+ironed as sharp as a knife-blade in front. I
+took your advice and decided that a good appearance
+went a long way, but I don't really think I
+overdid it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I'm glad you didn't put on style in coming
+back, anyway," Ann said, proudly. "It wouldn't
+have looked well in you; but you did right to dress
+like the best where you were, and it had something—a
+lots, I imagine—to do with your big success.
+If you want to go in and win in any undertaking,
+don't think failure for one minute, and the trouble
+is that shabby clothes are a continual reminder of
+poverty. Make folks believe at the outset that
+you are of the best, and then <em class="italics">be</em> the best."</p>
+<p class="pnext">King was looking down thoughtfully. "There
+is one trouble," he said, "in making a good appearance,
+and that comes from the ideas of some as to
+what sort of man or woman is the best. Before I
+left Seattle, Aunt Ann, my associates gave me a
+big dinner at the club—a sort of good-bye affair to
+drink to my future, you know—and some of the
+most distinguished men in the state were there,
+men prominent in the business and political world.
+And that night, Aunt Ann"—King had flushed
+slightly and his voice faltered—"that night a well-meaning
+man, a sort of society leader, in his toast
+to me plainly referred to me as a scion of the old
+Southern aristocracy, and he did it in just such a
+way as to make it appear to those who knew otherwise
+that I would be sailing under false colors if
+I did not correct the impression. He had made
+a beautiful talk about our old colonial homes, our
+slaves in livery, our beautiful women, who invariably
+graced the courts of Europe, and concluded
+by saying that it was no wonder I had succeeded
+where many other men with fewer hereditary influences
+to back them had failed."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Ah, you <em class="italics">were</em> in a fix!" Ann said. "That is, it
+was awkward for you, who I know to be almost too
+sincere for your own good."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I couldn't let it pass, Aunt Ann—I simply
+couldn't let all those men leave that table under
+a wrong impression. I hardly know what I said
+when I replied, but it seemed to be the right thing,
+for they all applauded me. I told him I did not
+belong to what was generally understood to be the
+old aristocracy of the South, but to what I considered
+the new. I told them about our log-cabin
+aristocracy, Aunt Ann, here in these blue mountains,
+for which my soul was famished. I told them of
+the sturdy, hard-working, half-starved mountaineers
+and their scratching, with dull tools, a bare existence
+out of this rocky soil. I told them of my bleak
+and barren boyhood, my heart-burnings at home,
+when my mother married again, the nights I'd
+spent at study in the light of pine-knots that filled
+the house with smoke. Then I told them about the
+grandest woman God ever brought to life. I told
+them about you, Aunt Ann. I gave no names,
+went into no painful particulars, but I talked about
+what you had done for me, and how you've been
+persecuted and misunderstood, till I could hardly
+hold back the tears from my eyes."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, hush, Luke," Ann said, huskily—"hush
+up!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I may now, but I couldn't that night,"
+said King. "I got started, and it came out of me
+like a flood. I said things about you that night
+that I've thought for years, but which you never
+would let me say to you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Hush, Luke, hush—you are a good boy, but
+you mustn't—" Ann's voice broke, and she placed
+her hand to her eyes.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"There was a celebrated novelist there," King
+went on, "and after dinner he came over to me and
+held out his hand. He was old and white-haired,
+and his face was full of tender, poetic emotion. 'If
+you ever meet your benefactress again,' he said,
+'tell her I'd give half my life to know her. If I'd
+known her I could write a book that would be immortal.'"</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was a pause. Ann seemed to be trying to
+crush out some obstruction to deliberate utterance
+in her big, throbbing throat.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"If he knew my life just as it has been," she said,
+finally—"if he knew it all—all that I've been through,
+all I've thought through it all, from the time I was
+an innocent, laughing girl 'till now, as an old woman,
+I'm fighting a battle of hate with every living soul
+within miles of me—if he knew all <em class="italics">that</em>, he could
+write a book, and it would be a big one. But it
+wouldn't help humanity, Luke. My hate's mine,
+and the devil's. It's not for folks born lucky and
+happy. Some folks seem put on earth for love.
+I'm put here for hate and for joy over the misfortune
+of my enemies."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You know many things, Aunt Ann," King said,
+softly, "and you are older than I am, but you can't
+see the end of it all as clearly as I do."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You think not, my boy?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, Aunt Ann; I have learned that nothing
+exists on earth except to produce ultimate good.
+The vilest crime, indirectly, is productive of good.
+I confidently expect to see the day that you will
+simply rise one step higher in your remarkable
+life and learn to love your enemies. Then you'll
+be understood by them all as I understand you, for
+they will then look into your heart, your <em class="italics">real</em> heart,
+as I've looked into it ever since you took pity on the
+friendless, barefoot boy that I was and lifted me
+out of my degradation and breathed the breath
+of hope into my despondent body. And when that
+day comes—mark it as my prediction—you will
+slay the ill-will of your enemies with a glance from
+your eye, and they will fall conquered at your feet."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Huh!" Ann muttered, "you say that because
+you are just looking at the surface of things. You
+see, I know a lots that you don't. Things have
+gone on here and are still going on that nothing
+earthly could stop."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That's it, Aunt Ann," Luke King said, seriously—"it
+won't be anything earthly. It will be <em class="italics">heavenly</em>,
+and when the bolt falls you will acknowledge I am
+right. Now, I must go. It will be about dark
+when I get to my step-father's."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ann walked with him to the gate, and as she
+closed it after him she held out her hand. It was
+quivering. "You are a good boy, Luke," she said,
+"but you don't know one hundredth part of what
+they've said and done since you left. I never wrote
+you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't care what they've done or said out of
+their shallow heads and cramped lives," King
+laughed—"they won't be able to affect your greater
+existence. You'll slay it all, Aunt Ann, with forgiveness—yes,
+and pity. You'll see the day you'll
+pity them rather than hate them."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't believe it, Luke," Ann said, her lips set
+firmly, and she turned back into the house. Standing
+in the doorway, she watched him trudge along
+the road, carrying his valise easily in his hand and
+swinging it lightly to and fro.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What a funny idea!" she mused. "Me forgive
+Jane Hemingway! The boy talks that way because
+he's young and full of dreams, and don't know
+any better. If he was going through what I am he'd
+hate the whole world and every living thing in it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">She saw him pause, turn, and put his valise down
+on the side of the road. He was coming back, and
+she went to meet him at the gate. He came up
+with a smile.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"The thought's just struck me," he said, "that
+you'd be the best adviser in the world as to what I
+ought to invest my ten thousand in. You never
+have made a mistake in money matters that I ever
+heard of, Aunt Ann; but maybe you'd rather not
+talk about my affairs."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't know why," she said, as she leaned over
+the gate. "I'll bet that money of yours will worry
+me some, for young folks these days have no caution
+in such matters. Ten thousand dollars—why,
+that is exactly the price—" She paused, her face
+full of sudden excitement.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"The price of what, Aunt Ann?" he asked, wonderingly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, the price of the Dickerson farm. It's
+up for sale. Jerry Dickerson has been wanting to
+leave here for the last three years, and every year
+he's been putting a lower and lower price on his
+big farm and comfortable house and every improvement.
+His brother's gone in the wholesale grocery
+business in Chattanooga, and he wants to join
+him. The property is worth double the money. I
+wouldn't like to advise you, Luke, but I'd rather
+see your money in that place than anything else.
+It would be a guarantee of an income to you as
+long as you lived."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I know the place, and it's a beauty," King said,
+"and I'll run over there and look at it to-morrow,
+and if it's still to be had I may rake it in. Think
+of me owning one of the best plantations in the valley—<em class="italics">me</em>,
+Aunt Ann, your barefoot, adopted son."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ann's head was hanging low as she walked back
+to the cottage door.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"'Adopted son,'" she repeated, tenderly. "As
+God is my Judge, I—I believe he's the only creature
+alive on this broad earth that I love. Yes, I
+love that boy. What strange, sweet ideas he has
+picked up! Well, I hope he'll always be able to
+keep them. I had plenty of them away back at
+his age. My unsullied faith in mankind was the
+tool that dug the grave of my happiness. Poor,
+blind boy! he may be on the same road. He may
+see the day that all he believes in now will crumble
+into bitter powder at his touch. I wonder if God
+can really be <em class="italics">all</em>-powerful. It seems strange that
+what is said to be the highest good in this life is
+doing exactly what He, Himself, has failed to do—to
+keep His own creatures from suffering. That
+really <em class="italics">is</em> odd."</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="xiv">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id15">XIV</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">Luke King was hot, damp with perspiration,
+and covered with the red
+dust of the mountain road when he
+reached the four-roomed cabin of his
+step-father among the stunted pines
+and gnarled wild cedars.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Old Mark Bruce sat out in front of the door. He
+wore no shoes nor coat, and his hickory shirt and
+trousers had been patched many times. His gray
+hair was long, sunburned, and dyed with the soil,
+and the corrugated skin of his cheeks and neck was
+covered with long hairs. As his step-son came into
+view from behind the pine-pole pig-pen, the old
+man uttered a grunt of surprise that brought to
+the doorway two young women in unadorned home-spun
+dresses, and a tall, lank young man in his shirt-sleeves.
+It was growing dark, and they all failed
+to recognize the new-comer.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I suppose you have forgotten me," King said,
+as he put his valise on a wash-bench by a tub of
+suds and a piggin of lye-soap.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"By Jacks, it's Luke King!" After that ejaculation
+of the old man he and the others stared speechlessly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, that's who I am," continued King. "How
+do you do, Jake?" (to the tall young man in the
+doorway). "We might as well shake hands for the
+sake of old times. You girls have grown into
+women since I left. I've stayed away a long time
+and seen a lot of the world, but I've always wanted
+to get back. Where is mother?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Neither of the girls could summon up the courage
+to answer, and, as they gave him their stiff
+hands, they seemed under stress of great embarrassment.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"She's poorly," said the old man, inhospitably
+keeping his seat. "She's had a hurtin' in 'er side
+from usin' that thar battlin' stick too much on dirty
+clothes, hoein' corn an' one thing an' another, an' a
+cold settled on her chest. Mary, go tell yore ma
+her son's turned up at last. Huh, all of us, except
+her, thought you was dead an' under ground! She's
+always contended you was alive an' had a job somers
+that was payin' enough to feed an' clothe you.
+How's times been a-servin' you?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Pretty well." King removed his valise from
+the bench and took its place wearily.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Is that so? Things is worse than ever here.
+Whar have you been hangin' out?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Seattle was the last place," King answered.
+"I've worked in several towns since I left here."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Huh, about as I expected! An' I reckon you
+hain't got much to show fer it except what you got
+on yore back an' in that carpet-bag."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That's about all."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What you been followin'?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Doing newspaper work," replied the young man,
+coloring.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'lowed you might keep at that. You used to
+git a dollar a day at Canton, I remember. Married?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Hain't able to support a woman, I reckon.
+Well, you've showed a great lot o' good sense thar;
+a feller of the wishy-washy, drift-about sort, like
+you, can sorter manage to shift fer hisself ef he
+hain't hampered by a pack o' children an' a sick
+woman."</p>
+<p class="pnext">At this juncture Mary returned. She flushed as
+she caught King's expectant glance. She spoke to
+her father.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"She said tell 'im to come in thar."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Luke went into the front room and turned thence
+into a small chamber adjoining. It was windowless
+and dark, the only light filtering indirectly through
+the front room. On a low, narrow bed, beneath a
+ladder leading to a trap-door above, lay a woman.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Here I am, Luke," she cried out, warningly.
+"Don't stumble over that pan o' water. I've been
+takin' a hot mustard foot-bath to try and get my
+blood warm. I have chilly spells every day about
+this time. La me! How you take me by surprise!
+I've prayed for little else in many a year, an' was
+just about to give up. I took a little hope from
+some'n' old Ann Boyd said one day about you bein'
+well an' employed somers out West, but then I met
+Jane Hemingway, an' she give me the blues. She
+'lowed that old Ann just pretended you was doin'
+well to convince folks she'd made no mistake in
+sendin' you to school. But, thank God, here you
+are alive, anyway."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, I'm as sound as a new dollar, mother."
+His foot came in contact with a three-legged stool
+in the darkness, and he recognized it as an old
+friend and drew it to the head of her bed and sat
+down. He took one of her hard, thin hands and
+bent over her. Should he kiss her? She had not
+taught him to do so as a child, and he had never
+done it later in his youth, not even when he had left
+home, but he had been out in the world and grown
+wiser. He had seen other men kiss their mothers,
+and his heart had ached. With his hand on her
+hard, withered cheek he turned her face towards
+him and pressed his lips to hers. She was much
+surprised, and drew herself from him instinctively,
+and wiped her mouth with a corner of the coverlet,
+but he knew she was pleased.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, Luke!" she said, quickly, "what on earth
+do you mean? Have you gone plumb crazy?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I wanted to kiss you, that's all," he said, awkwardly.
+They were both silent for a moment, then
+she spoke, tremblingly: "You always was womanish
+and tender-like; it don't harm anybody, though;
+none o' the rest in this family are that way. But,
+my stars! I can't tell a bit how you look in this
+pitch-dark. Mary! oh, Mary!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What you want, ma?" The nearness of the
+speaker in the adjoining room betrayed the fact
+that she had been listening.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I can't see my hand before me," answered
+the old woman. "I wish you'd fetch a light here.
+You'll find a stub of a candle in the clock under the
+turpentine-bottle. I hid it thar so as to have some'n'
+to read the Book with Sunday night if any preacher
+happened to drop in to hold family worship."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The girl lighted the bit of tallow-dip and braced
+it upright in a cracked teacup with some bits of
+stone. She brought it in, placed it on a dry-goods
+box filled with cotton-seed and ears of corn, and
+shambled out. King's heart sank as he looked
+around him in the dim light. The room was only
+a lean-to shed walled with slabs driven into the
+ground and floored with puncheons. The bedstead
+was a crude, wooden frame supported by perpendicular
+saplings fastened to floor and rafters. The
+irregular cracks in the wall were filled with mud,
+rags, and newspapers. Bunches of dried herbs,
+roots, and red peppers hung above his head, and
+piles of clothing, earth-dyed and worn to shreds,
+and agricultural implements lay about indiscriminately.
+Disturbed by the light, a hen flew from
+her nest behind a dismantled cloth-loom, and with
+a loud cackling ran out at the door. There was a
+square cat-hole in the wall, and through it a lank,
+half-starved cat crawled and came purring and rubbing
+against the young man's ankle.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The old woman shaded her eyes and gazed at him
+eagerly. "You hain't altered so overly much,"
+she observed, "'cept your skin looks mighty fair
+fer a man, and yore hands feel soft."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Then she lowered her voice into a cautious whisper,
+and glanced furtively towards the door. "You
+favor your father—I don't mean Mark, but your
+own daddy. You are as like him as can be. He
+helt his head that away, an' had yore habit o' being
+gentle with women-folks. You've got his high temper,
+too. La me! that last night you was at home,
+an' Mark cussed you an' kicked yore writin'-paper
+in the fire, I didn't sleep a wink. I thought you'd
+gone off to borrow a gun. It was almost a relief to
+know you'd left, kase I seed you an' him couldn't
+git along. Your father was a different sort of a
+man, Luke, and sometimes I miss 'im sharp. He
+loved books an' study like you do. He had good
+blood in 'im; his father was a teacher an' circuit-rider.
+I don't know why I married Mark, unless
+it was kase I was afraid of bein' sent to the poor-farm,
+but, la me! this is about as bad."</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was a low whimper in her voice, and the
+lines about her mouth had tightened. King's breast
+heaved, and he suddenly put out his hand and began
+to stroke her thin, gray hair. A strange, restful
+feeling stole over him. The spell was on her,
+too; she closed her eyes and a satisfied smile lighted
+her wan face. Then her lips began to quiver, and
+she quickly turned her face from him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I'm a simpleton," she sobbed, "but I can't help
+it. Nobody hain't petted me nor tuck on over me
+a bit since your pa died. I never treated you right,
+neither, Luke. I ort never to 'a' let Mark run over
+you like he did."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Never mind that," King said. "He and I have
+already made friends; but you must not lie in this
+dingy hole; you need medicine, and good, warm
+food."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, I'm goin' to git up," she answered, lightly.
+"I'm not sick, Luke. I jest laid down awhile to
+rest. I have to do this nearly every evening. I
+must git the house straight. Mary an' Jane hain't
+no hands at house-work 'thout I stand right over
+'em, an' Jake an' his pa is continually a-fussing. I
+feel stronger already. If you'll go in t'other room
+I'll rise. They'll never fix you nothin' to eat nor
+nowhar to sleep. I reckon you'll have to lie with
+Jake like you used to, till I can fix better. Things
+has been in an awful mess since I got so porely."</p>
+<p class="pnext">He went into the front room. The old man had
+brought his hand-bag in. He had placed it in a
+chair and opened it and was coolly inspecting the
+contents in the firelight. Jake and the two girls
+stood looking on. King stared at the old man, but
+the latter did not seem at all abashed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Huh," he said, "you seem to be about as well
+stocked with little tricks as a notion peddler—five
+or six pair o' striped socks and no end o' collars;
+them things folded under the shirts looks like another
+suit o' clothes. I reckon you have had a
+good job if you carry two outfits around. Though
+I <em class="italics">have</em> heard of printin'-men that went off owin'
+accounts here an' yan."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I paid what I owed before I left," King said,
+with an effort at lightness as he closed the valise
+and put it into a corner.</p>
+<p class="pnext">In a few minutes his mother came in. She blew
+out the candle, and as she crossed to the mantel-piece
+she carefully extinguished the smoking wick
+with her fingers. The change in her was more
+noticeable to her son than it had been when she
+was reclining. She looked very frail in her faded
+black cotton gown. Somehow, bent as she was, she
+seemed shorter than of old, more cowed and hopeless.
+Her shoes were worn through, and her bare
+feet showed through the holes.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Mary," she asked, "have you put on the supper?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes'm, but it hain't tuck up yet." The girl went
+into the next room, which was used at once for
+cooking and dining, and her mother followed her.
+In a few minutes the old woman came to the door.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Walk out, all of you," she said, wearily. "Luke,
+it seems funny to make company of you, but somehow
+I can't treat you like the rest. You'll have to
+make out with what is set before you, though hog-meat
+is mighty scarce this year. Just at fattenin'-time
+our pigs took the cholera an' six laid down in
+the swamp in one day and died. Pork is fetchin'
+fifteen cents a pound in town, and mighty few will
+sell on a credit."</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="xv">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id16">XV</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">After supper King left his mother and
+step-sisters removing the dishes from
+the table and went out. He was
+sickened to the depths of his sensitive
+soul by the sordid meal he had just
+seen the family partake of with evident relish, as if
+it were of unusual occurrence. And he was angry
+with himself, too, for feeling so, when such a life
+had been their lot so long.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He crossed the little brook that ran on a bed of
+brown stone behind the cabin, and leaned against
+the rail-fence which surrounded the pine-pole corn-crib.
+He could easily leave them in their squalor
+and ignorance and return to the great, intellectual
+world—the world which read his editorials and followed
+his precepts, the key-note of which had always
+been the love of man for man as the greatest
+force in the universe—but, after all, would that not
+stamp him with the brand he most despised—hypocrisy?
+A pretty preacher, he, of such fine-spun
+theories, while his own mother and her step-children
+were burrowing in the soil like eyeless animals, and
+he living on the fat of the land along with the wealth
+and power of the country!</p>
+<p class="pnext">The cabin door shone out, a square of red light
+against the blackness of the hill and the silent,
+serried pines beyond. He heard Jake whistling a
+tune he had whistled long ago, when they had
+worked Mark Bruce's crop side by side, and the
+spasmodic creaking of the puncheons as the family
+moved about within.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A figure appeared in the doorway. It was his
+mother, and she was coming to search for him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Here I am, mother!" he cried out, gently, as
+she advanced through the darkness; "look out and
+don't get your feet wet."</p>
+<p class="pnext">She chuckled childishly as she stepped across the
+brook on the largest stones. When she reached him
+she put her hand on his arm and laughed: "La me,
+boy, a little wet won't hurt me—I'm used to a good
+soakin' mighty nigh every drenchin' rain. I slept
+with a stream of it tricklin' through the roof on my
+back one night, an' I've milched the cows in that
+thar lot when the mire was shoe-mouth deep in
+January. I 'lowed I'd find you out here. You
+used to be a mighty hand to sneak off to yoreself
+to study, and you are still that away. But you are
+different in some things, too. You don't talk our
+way exactly, an' I reckon that's what aggravates
+Mark. He was goin' on jest now about yore stuck-up
+way o' eatin with yore pocket-handkerchief
+spread out in yore lap."</p>
+<p class="pnext">King looked past her at the full moon rising above
+the trees on the mountain-top.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Mother," said he, abruptly, and he put his arm
+impulsively around her neck, and his eyes filled—"mother,
+I can't stay here but a few days. I have
+work to do in Atlanta. Your health is bad, and
+you are not comfortable; the others are strong and
+can stand it, but you can't. Come down there with
+me for a while, anyway. I'll put you under a
+doctor and bring back your health."</p>
+<p class="pnext">She looked up into his eyes steadily for a moment,
+then she slapped him playfully on the breast
+and drew away from him. "How foolish you talk
+fer a grown-up man!" she laughed; "why, you
+know I can't leave Mark and the children. He'd
+go stark crazy 'thout me around to grumble at, an'
+then the rest ud be without my advice an' counsel.
+La me, what makes you think I ain't comfortable?
+This cabin is a sight better 'n the last one we had,
+an' drier an' a heap warmer inside when fire-wood
+kin be got. Hard times like these now is likely to
+come at any time an' anywhar. It strikes rich an'
+pore alike. Thar's Dickerson offerin' that fine old
+farm, with all the improvements, fer a mere song to
+raise money to go into business whar he kin hope to
+pay out o' debt. They say now that the place—lock,
+stock, and barrel—kin be had fer ten thousand. Why,
+when you was a boy he would have refused twenty.
+Now, ef we-all had it instead o' him, Mark an' Jake
+could make it pay like rips, fer they are hard workers."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You think they could, mother?" His heart
+bounded suddenly, and he stood staring thoughtfully
+into her eyes.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Pay?—of course they could. Fellers that could
+keep a roof over a family's head on what they've
+had to back 'em could get rich on a place like that.
+But, la me, what's the use o' pore folks thinkin'
+about the property o' the rich an' lucky? It's like
+dreamin' you are a queen at night an' wakin' up
+in hunger an' rags."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I remember the farm and the old house very
+well," King remarked, reflectively, the queer light
+still in his earnest eyes.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"The <em class="italics">old</em> one! Huh, Dickerson got on a splurge
+the year you left, an' built a grand new one with
+some money from his wife's estate. He turned the
+old one into a big barn an' stable an' gin. You
+must see the new house 'fore you go away, Luke.
+It's jest splendid, with green blinds to the winders,
+a fancy spring-house with a tin rooster on top
+that p'ints the way the wind blows, and on high
+stilts like thar's a big tank and a windmill to keep
+the house supplied with water. I hain't never been
+in it, but they say they've got wash-tubs long
+enough to lie down in handy to every sleepin'-room,
+and no end of fancy contraptions."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"We'd better go in, mother," he said, abruptly.
+"You'll catch your death of cold out here in the
+dew."</p>
+<p class="pnext">She laughed as they walked back to the cabin,
+side by side. A thick smoke and its unpleasant odor
+met them at the door.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It's Mark burnin' rags inside to oust the mosquitoes
+so he kin sleep," she explained. "They are
+wuss this year than I ever seed 'em. Seems like the
+general starvation has tackled them, too, fer they
+look like they will eat a body up whether or no.
+Jake an' the gals grease their faces with lamp-oil
+when they have any, but I jest kiver up my head
+with a rag an' never know they are about. I
+reckon we'd better go to bed. Jake has fixed him
+a pallet on the fodder in the loft, so you kin lie by
+yoreself. He's been jowerin' at his pa ever since
+supper about treatin' you so bad. I thought once
+they'd come to blows."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The next morning, after breakfast, Jake threw a
+bag of shelled corn on the back of his mare, and,
+mounting upon it as if it were a saddle, he started
+off down the valley to the mill, and his father shouldered
+an axe and went up on the hill to cut wood.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Whar you going?" Mrs. Bruce asked, as she followed
+Luke to the door.</p>
+<p class="pnext">His eyes fell to the ground. "I thought," he answered,
+"that I'd walk over to the Dickerson farm
+and take a look at the improvements. I used to
+hunt over that land."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, whatever you do, be sure you get back
+to dinner," she said. "Me an' Jane took a torch
+last night after you went to bed an' blinded a hen
+on the roost and pulled her down; I'm goin' to make
+you an' old-time chicken-pie like you used to love
+on Christmas."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Half a mile up the road, which ran along the
+side of the hill from which the slow, reverberating
+clap, clap of Mark Bruce's axe came on the still air,
+King came into view of the rich, level lands of the
+Dickerson plantation. He stood in the shade of
+a tall poplar and looked thoughtfully at the lush
+green meadows, the well-tilled fields of corn, cotton,
+and sorghum, and the large, two-storied house, with
+its dormer-windows, tall, fluted columns, and broad
+verandas—at the well-arranged out-houses, barns,
+and stables, and the white-gravelled drives and
+walks from the house to the main road. Then he
+turned and looked back at the cabin—the home of
+his nearest kin.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The house was hardly discernible in the gray
+morning mist that lingered over the little vale in
+which it stood. He saw Jake, far away, riding along,
+in and out, among the sassafras and sumach bushes
+that bordered a worn-out wheat-field, his long legs
+dangling at the sides of the mare. There was a
+bent, blurred figure at the wood-pile in the yard;
+it was his mother or one of the girls.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Poor souls!" he exclaimed; "they have been in
+a dreary tread-mill all their lives, and have never
+known the joy of one gratified ambition. If only I
+could conquer my own selfish desires, I could lay
+before them that which they never dreamed of possessing—a
+glorious taste of genuine happiness. It
+would take my last dollar of ready money, but I'd
+still have my interest in the new paper and this
+brain and will of mine. Aunt Ann would never see
+it my way, and she might throw me over for doing
+it, but why shouldn't I? Why shouldn't I do it
+when my very soul cries out for it? Why have I
+been preaching this thing all this time and making
+converts right and left if I am to draw back the first
+time a real opportunity confronts me? It may
+be to test my mettle. Yes, that's what it is. I've
+got to do one or the other—keep the money—or
+give it to them."</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="xvi">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id17">XVI</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">King turned towards the Dickerson place
+and walked on, a great weight of indecision
+on him. He had always held
+up Ann Boyd as his highest human
+example. She would laugh the idea
+to scorn—the idea of putting old Mark Bruce and
+his "lay-out" into such a home and circumstances;
+and yet, estimable as she was in many things, still
+she was not a free woman. She showed that by her
+slavery to the deepest hatred that ever burned in
+a human breast. No, it was plain to the young
+philosopher that in some things, at least, she was
+no guide for him. Rather might it not eventually
+result in the hate-hardened woman's learning
+brighter walks of life from him, young as he was?
+And yet, he told himself, the money was his, not
+theirs, and few really succeeded in life who gave
+away their substance.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The road led him past Jane Hemingway's cottage,
+and at the fence, in the barn-yard, he saw Virginia.
+He saw her, bareheaded, with her wonderful
+hair and exquisite profile and curve of neck, shoulder,
+and breast, before she was aware of his approach,
+and the view brought him to a stand behind
+some bushes which quite hid him from her
+view.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It is Virginia—it must be—yes, it is Virginia!"
+he said, ecstatically. "She has become what I
+knew she would become, the loveliest woman in the
+world; she is exactly as I have fancied her all
+these years—proud, erect—and her eyes, oh! I
+must look into her eyes again! Ah, now I know
+what brought me home! Now I know why I was
+not content away. Yes, this was the cause—Virginia—my
+little friend and pupil—Virginia!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">She had turned her head, and with the startled
+look of a wild young fawn on the point of running
+away, she stood staring at him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Have you entirely forgotten me, Virginia?" he
+asked, advancing almost with instinctive caution
+towards her.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh no, now I know you," she said, with, he
+thought, quite the girlish smile he had taken with
+him in his roaming, and she leaned over the fence
+and gave him her hand. He felt it pulsing warmly
+in his, and a storm of feeling—the accumulation of
+years—rushed over him as he looked into the eyes
+he had never forgotten, and marvelled over their
+wonderful lights and shadows. It was all he could
+do to steady his voice when he next spoke.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It has been several years since I saw you," he
+said, quite aimlessly. "In fact, you were a little
+girl then, Virginia, and now you are a woman, a
+full-grown woman—just think of that! But why
+are you looking at me so steadily from head to
+foot?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I—I can hardly realize that it really is you,"
+Virginia said. "You see, Luke—Mr. King, I mean—I
+thought you were—really, I thought you were
+dead. My mother has said it many times. She
+quite believed it, for some reason or other."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"She <em class="italics">wanted</em> to believe it, Virginia, with all respect
+to your mother. She hates Aunt Ann—Mrs.
+Boyd, you know—and it seems she almost hoped
+I'd never amount to anything, since it was Mrs.
+Boyd's means that gave me my education."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, that's the way it must have been," admitted
+the girl, "and it seems strange for you to be
+here when I have thought I'd perhaps never see
+you again."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"So you really thought I was done for?" he said,
+trying to assume a calmness he was far from feeling
+under the titillating spell her beauty and sweet,
+musical voice had cast over him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, mother often declared it was so, and then—"
+She broke off, her color rising slightly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And, then, Virginia—?" he reminded her, eagerly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">She looked him frankly in the eyes; it was the
+old, fearless, childlike glance that had told him
+long ago of her strong, inherent nobility of character.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I really thought if you <em class="italics">had</em> been alive
+you'd have come back to your mother. You would
+have written, anyway. She's been in a pitiful condition,
+Mr. King."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I know it now, Virginia," he said, his cheeks
+hot with shame. "I'm afraid you'll never understand
+how a sane man could have acted as I have,
+but I went away furious with her and her husband,
+and I never allowed my mind to dwell in tenderness
+on her."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That was no excuse," the girl said, still firmly,
+though her eyes were averted. "She had a right
+to marry again, and, if you and her husband couldn't
+get along together, that did not release you from
+your duty to see that she was given ordinary comfort.
+I've seen her walk by here and stop to rest,
+when it looked like she could hardly drag one foot
+after another. The thought came to me once that
+she was starving to give what she had to eat to the
+others."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You needn't tell me about it," he faltered, the
+flames of his shame mounting high in his face—"I
+stayed there last night. I saw enough to drag my
+soul out of my body. Don't form hasty judgment
+yet, Virginia. You shall see that I'll do my duty
+now. I'll work my hands to the bone."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I'm glad to hear you talk that way," the
+girl answered. "It would make her so happy to
+have help from you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Your ideas of filial duty were always beautiful,
+Virginia," he said, his admiring eyes feasting on her
+face. "I remember once—I shall never forget it—it
+was the day you let me wade across the creek
+with you in my arms. You said you were too big
+to be carried, but you were as light as a feather.
+I could have carried you that way all day and never
+been tired. It was then that you told me in all
+sincerity that you would really die for your mother's
+sake. It seemed a strangely unselfish thing for a
+little girl to say, but I believe now that you'd do it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, in my eyes it is the first, almost the <em class="italics">whole</em>
+of one's duty in life," Virginia replied. "I hardly
+have a moment's happiness now, owing to my mother's
+failing health."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, I was sorry to hear she was afflicted," said
+King. "She's up and about, though, I believe."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, but she is suffering more than mere bodily
+pain. She has her trouble on her mind night and
+day. She's afraid to die, Luke. That's queer to
+me. Even at my age I'd not be afraid, and she is
+old, and really ought not to care. I'd think she
+would have had enough of life, such as it has been
+from the beginning till now, full of strife, anger, and
+envy. I hear her calling me now, and I must go in.
+Come see her, won't you?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, very soon," King said, as she turned away.
+He stood at the fence and watched her as she moved
+gracefully over the grass to the gate near the cottage.
+At the door she turned and smiled upon
+him, and then was gone.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, I now know why I came back," he said.
+"It was Virginia—little Virginia—that brought me.
+Oh, God, isn't she beautiful—isn't she strong of
+character and noble? Away back there when she
+wore short dresses she believed in me. Once" (he
+caught his breath) "I seemed to see the dawn of
+love in her eyes, but it has died away. She has out-grown
+it. She thought me dead; she didn't want
+to think me alive and capable of neglecting my
+mother. Well, she shall see. She, too, looks on
+me as an idle drift-about; in due time she shall
+know I am more serious than that. But I must go
+slowly; if I am too impulsive I may spoil all my
+chances, and, Luke King, if that woman does not
+become your wife you will be a failure—a dead
+failure at everything to which you lay your hands,
+for you'd never be able to put your heart into anything
+again—you couldn't, for it's hers for all time
+and eternity."</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was dusk when he returned to his mother's
+cabin. Jake sat on his warm bag of meal just inside
+the door. Old Mark had taken off his shoes,
+and sat under a persimmon-tree "cooling off" and
+yelling impatiently at his wife to "hurry up supper."</p>
+<p class="pnext">When she heard Luke had returned, she came to
+the door where he sat talking to Jake. "We didn't
+know what had become of you," she said, as she
+emerged from the cabin, bending her head to pass
+through the low doorway.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I got interested in looking over the Dickerson
+farm," he replied, "and before I realized it the sun
+was almost down."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, it don't matter; I saved you a piece of pie;
+I'm just warming it over now. I'll bet you didn't
+get a bite o' dinner."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, I did. The fact is, Dickerson remembered
+me, and made me go to dinner with him; but I'm
+ready to eat again."</p>
+<p class="pnext">As they were rising from the table a few minutes
+later, King said, in a rather constrained tone, "I've
+got something to say to you all, and I may as well
+do it now."</p>
+<p class="pnext">With much clatter they dragged their chairs after
+him to the front room and sat down with awkward
+ceremony—the sort of dignified quiet that usually
+governed them during the visit of some strolling
+preacher or benighted peddler. They stared with
+ever-increasing wonder as he placed his own chair in
+front of them. Old Mark seemed embarrassed by
+the formality of the proceedings, and endeavored to
+relieve himself by assuming indifference. He coughed
+conspicuously and hitched his chair back till it leaned
+against the door-jamb.</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was a queer, boyish tremor in Luke King's
+voice when he began to speak, and it vibrated there
+till he had finished.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Since I went away from you," he began, his
+eyes on the floor, "I have studied hard and closely
+applied myself to a profession, and, though I've
+wandered about a good deal, I've made it pay
+pretty well. I'm not rich, now, but I'm worth
+more than you think I am. In big cities the sort
+of talent I happen to have brings a sort of market-price,
+and I have profited by my calling. You
+have never had any luck, and you have worked hard
+and deserve more than has fallen to your lot. You'd
+never be able to make anything on this poor land,
+even if you could buy your supplies as low as those
+who pay cash, but you have not had the ready
+money at any time, and the merchants have swindled
+you on every deal you've made with them. The
+Dickerson plantation is the sort of place you really
+need. It is worth double the price he asked for
+it. I happened to have the money to spare, and I
+bought it to-day while I was over there."</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was a profound silence in the room. The
+occupants of the row of chairs stared at him with
+widening eyes, mute and motionless. A sudden
+breeze came in at the door and turned the oblong
+flame of the candle on the mantel towards the wall,
+and caused black ropes of smoke from the pine-knots
+in the chimney to curl out into the room like
+pyrotechnic snakes. Mrs. Bruce bent forward and
+peered into King's motionless face and smiled and
+slyly winked, then she glanced at the serious faces
+of the others, and broke into a childish laugh of
+genuine merriment.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"La me! ef you-uns ain't settin' thar with
+mouths open like bull-frogs swallowin' down ever'thing
+that boy says, as ef it was so much law an'
+gospel."</p>
+<p class="pnext">But none of them entered her mood; indeed, they
+gave her not so much as a glance. Without replying
+to her, King rose and took the candle from the
+mantel-piece. He stood it on the table and laid a
+folded document beside it. "There's the deed,"
+he said. "It's made out to mother as long as she
+lives, and to fall eventually to her step-daughters
+and step-son, Jake."</p>
+<p class="pnext">He left the paper on the table and went back to
+his chair. An awkward silence ensued. It was
+broken by old Mark. He coughed and threw his
+tobacco-quid out at the door, and, smiling to hide
+his half-sceptical agitation, he moved to the table.
+His gaunt back was to them, and his grizzled face
+went out of view when he bent to hold the paper
+in the light.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"By Jacks, that's what it is!" he blurted out.
+"There's no shenanigan about it. The Dickerson
+place is Mariar Habersham Bruce's, ef <em class="italics">I</em> kin read
+writin'."</p>
+<p class="pnext">With a great clatter of heavy shoes and tilted chairs
+falling back into place, they rose and gathered about
+him, leaving their benefactor submerged in their
+combined shadow. Each took the paper, examined
+it in reverent silence, and then slowly fell back,
+leaving the document on the table. Mark Bruce
+started aimlessly towards the next room, but finally
+turned to the front door, where he stood irresolute,
+staring out at the night-wrapped mountain road.
+Mrs. Bruce looked at Luke helplessly and went into
+the next room, and, exchanging glances of dumb
+wonder with each other, the girls followed. Jake
+noticed that the wind was blowing the document
+from the table, and he rescued it and silently offered
+it to his step-brother.</p>
+<p class="pnext">King motioned it from him. "Give it to mother,"
+he said. "She'll take care of it; besides, it's been
+recorded at the court-house. By-the-way, Dickerson
+will get out at once; the transfer includes all
+the furniture, and the crops, which are in a good
+condition."</p>
+<p class="pnext">King had Jake's bed to himself again that night.
+For hours he lay awake listening to the insistent
+drone of conversation from the family, which had
+gathered under the apple-trees in front of the cabin.
+About eleven o'clock some one came softly into his
+room. The moon had risen, and its beams fell in
+at the open door and through a window with a sliding
+wooden shutter. It was Mrs. Bruce, and she
+was moving with catlike caution.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Is that you, mother?" he asked.</p>
+<p class="pnext">For an instant she was so much startled at finding
+him awake that she made no reply. Then she
+stammered: "Oh, I was tryin' so hard not to wake
+you! I jest wanted to make shore yore bed was
+comfortable. We put new straw in the tick to-day,
+and sometimes new beds lie lumpy and uneven."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It's all right," he assured her. "I wasn't asleep,
+anyway."</p>
+<p class="pnext">He could feel her still trembling in excitement as
+she sat down on the edge of the bed. "I reckon
+you couldn't sleep, nuther," she said. "Thar hain't
+a shut eye in this cabin. They've all laid down, an'
+laid down, an' got up over an' over." She laughed
+softly and twisted her hands nervously in her lap.
+"We are all that excited we don't know which end
+of us is up. Why, Luke, boy, it will be the talk of
+the whole county, and it'll be a big feather in old
+Ann Boyd's cap—you goin' off an' makin' money
+so fast after she give you your schoolin', an' they
+all predicted it ud come to no good end. Sech
+luck hain't fell to any family as pore as we are sence
+I kin remember. I don't know as I ever heard o'
+such a thing in my life. La me, it ud make you
+split your sides laughin' to set out thar an' listen
+to all the plans them children are a-makin'. But
+Mark, he has the least to say of all, an', Luke, as
+happy as I am, I'm sorter sorry fer that pore old
+fellow. He feels bad about the way he's always
+treated you, an' run down yore kind o' work. He's
+too back'ard an' shamefaced to ax yore pardon, an'
+in a sheepish sort of a way, jest now, he hinted he'd
+like fer me to plaster it over fer 'im. He's a good
+man, Luke, but he's gittin' old an' childish, an' has
+been hounded to death by debt an' circumstances."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"He's all right," King said, strangely moved.
+"Tell him I have not the slightest ill-will against
+him, an' I hope he'll get along well on the new place."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Somehow you keep talkin' like you don't intend
+to stay long," she said, tentatively.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I know, but I sha'n't be far away," he replied.
+"I can run up from my work in Atlanta every now
+and then, and it would be great to rest up on a farm
+among home folks, here in the mountains."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I'll be glad of that," Mrs. Bruce said,
+plaintively. "I have got sorter used to my step-children,
+but they ain't the same as a body's own
+flesh and blood. I'm proud of you, Luke," she
+added, tremulously. "After all my fears that
+you'd not come to much, you've turned out to be
+my main-stay. You'll be a great man before you
+die. Anybody that kin make an' throw away ten
+thousand dollars as easy as you have, ain't no small
+potato as men go these days. I reckon the trouble
+with us all is that none of us had brains enough to
+comprehend what yore aims was. But Ann Boyd
+did. She's the most wonderful woman that ever
+lived in this part of the country, anyhow—kicked
+an' shoved about, hated an' hatin', an' yet ever' now
+an' then hittin' the nail square on the head an'
+doin' somethin' big an' grand—something Christ-like
+an' holy—like what she done when she with-drawed
+her suit agin Gus Willard, simply because
+it would throw Mark out of a job to go on with it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, she's a good woman, mother."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Bruce went out, so that her son might go to
+sleep, but he slept very little. All night, at intervals,
+the buzz of low voices and sudden outbursts
+of merriment reached him and found soothing lodgment
+in his satisfied soul. Then, too, he was revelling
+in the memory of Virginia Hemingway's eyes
+and voice, and a dazzling hope that his meeting
+with her had inspired.</p>
+<p class="pnext">His mother stole softly into his room towards
+the break of day. This time it was to bring an old
+shawl, full of holes and worn to shreds, which she
+cautiously spread over him, for the mountain air
+had grown cool. She thought him asleep, but as
+she was turning away he caught her hand and drew
+her down and kissed her.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, Luke!" she exclaimed; "don't be foolish!
+What's got in you? I—" But her voice had grown
+husky, and her words died away in an irrepressible
+sob. She did not stir for an instant, then she put
+her arms round his neck and kissed him.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="xvii">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id18">XVII</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">It was in the latter part of August.
+Breezes with just a touch of autumnal
+crispness bore down from the mountain-sides,
+clipping from their stems
+the first dead and dying leaves, and
+swept on across Ann Boyd's level cotton-fields, where
+she was at work at the head of a score of cotton-pickers—negro
+men, boys, women, and girls. There
+were certain social reasons why the unemployed poor
+white females would not labor under this strange
+woman, though they needed her ready money as
+badly as the blacks, and that, too, was a constant
+thorn in the flesh of Ann's pride. She could afford
+to pay well for work, inasmuch as her planting
+and harvesting were invariably profitable. She had
+good agricultural judgment, and she used it. Even
+her cotton picking would average up better to the
+acre than any other farmer's, for she saw to it that
+her workers put in good time and left no white,
+fluttering scrap on stalk, leaf, or bole to attract the
+birds looking for linings for their winter's nests.
+When her black band had left a portion of her field,
+it was as if a forest fire had swept over it, leaving it
+brown and bare. The negroes were always ready
+to work for her, for the best of them were never
+criticised for having done so. The most fault-finding
+of her enemies had even been glad of the
+opportunity to call attention to the fact that only
+negroes would sink so low as to toil by her side. But
+the blacks didn't care, and in their taciturn fidelity
+they never said aught against her. As a rule, the
+colored people had contempt for the "pore white
+trash," and reverenced the ex-slave-holder and his
+family; but Ann Boyd was neither one nor the
+other. She was rich, and therefore powerful—a
+creature to be measured by no existing standards.
+When they worked for their old owners and others of
+the same impoverished class, they were asked to
+take in payment old clothing, meat—and not the
+choicest—from the smoke-house, and grain from
+the barn, or a questionable order to some store-keeper
+who, being dubious about the planter's account
+himself, usually charged double in self-protection.
+But on Ann's place it was different. At
+the end of each day, hard, jingling cash was laid into
+their ready palms, and it was symbolic of the freedom
+which years before had been talked about so
+much, but which somehow had appeared in name
+only. Yes, Ann Boyd was different. Coming in
+closer contact with her than the whites, they knew
+her better and felt her inherent worth. They always
+addressed her as "Miss Ann," and as "Miss
+Ann" she was known among them far and near—a
+queer, powerful individuality about whose private
+life—having naught to lose or gain by it—they
+never gossiped.</p>
+<p class="pnext">On the present day, when the sun dipped below
+the mountain-top, Ann raised the cow's horn, which
+she always wore at her belt, and blew a resounding
+blast upon it. This was the signal that the day's
+toil was ended, and yet so faithful were her black
+allies that each tried to complete the row he happened
+to be on before he brought in his bag. The
+crop for the year was good over all that portion of
+the state, and the newspapers, which Ann read
+carefully by candle-light at night, were saying that,
+owing to the little cotton being produced in other
+parts of the South, the price was going to be high.
+And that meant that Ann Boyd would be a "holder"
+in the market—not needing ready money, her bales
+would remain in a warehouse in Darley till the highest
+price had been reached in the long-headed woman's
+judgment, which in this, too, was always good—so
+good, in fact, that the Darley cotton speculators
+were often guided by it to their advantage.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The gathering-bags all in the cotton-house, Ann
+locked the rusty padlock, paid the toilers from her
+leather bag, and trudged home to her well-earned
+supper. When that was prepared and eaten, she
+moved her chair to the front porch and sat down;
+but the air was cool to unpleasantness, and she
+moved back into the gracious warmth of the big,
+open fire. All the afternoon her heart had thrilled
+over a report that Jane Hemingway's small cotton
+crop was being hastily and carelessly gathered and
+sold at the present low price by the man who held
+a mortgage on it. It pleased Ann to think that
+Jane would later hear of her own high receipts and
+be stung by it. Then, too, she had heard that Jane
+was more and more concerned about her bodily
+affliction and the inability to receive proper treatment.
+Yes, Jane was getting payment for what
+she had done in such an underhanded way, and Ann
+was glad of it.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Other things had not gone to please Ann of late.
+She had tried her best to be in sympathy with Luke
+King's action in paying out his last dollar of ready
+money for a farm for his family, whom she heartily
+despised for their treatment of her, but she could
+not see it from the young man's sanguine and cheerful
+stand-point. She had seen the Bruce family
+driving by in one of the old-fashioned vehicles the
+Dickersons had owned, and the sight had seemed
+ludicrous to her. "The boy will never amount to
+anything," she said. "He'll be poor all his life.
+He'll let anybody impose on him." And yet she
+loved him with a strange, insistent affection she
+could hardly understand. Even when she had bitterly
+upbraided him for that amazing act of impulsive
+generosity, as he sat in her doorway the
+next morning, and she saw the youthful blaze of
+enthusiasm in his eyes as he essayed to justify his
+course by the theories of life which had guided him
+in his professional career—even then an impulse
+was tugging at her heart to listen and believe the
+things he was so ardently declaring would free her
+from her bondage to hate and avarice. She could
+have kissed him as she might have kissed a happy,
+misguided son, and yet her coldness, her severity,
+she argued, was to be for his ultimate good. He had
+sent her copies of his new paper, with his editorials
+proudly marked in blue pencil. They were all in
+the same altruistic vein, and, strange to say, the extracts
+printed from leading journals all over the
+South in regard to his work were full of hearty
+approval. He had become a great factor for good
+in the world. He was one man who had the unfaltering
+courage of his convictions. Ann laughed
+to herself as she recalled all she had said to him
+that day. No wonder that he had thrown it off
+with a smile and a playful kiss, when such high
+authorities were backing him up. True, he might
+live in such a way as never to need the money which
+had been her weapon of defence, and he might
+finally rise to a sort of penniless greatness. Besides,
+his life was one thing, hers another. No great calamity
+had come to him in youth, such as she had
+known and so grimly fought; no persistent enemy
+was following his track with the scent and bay of
+a blood-hound, night and day seeking to rend him
+to pieces.</p>
+<p class="pnext">These reflections were suddenly disturbed by a
+most unusual sound at that time of night. It was
+the sharp click of the iron gate-latch. Ann's heart
+sprang to her throat and seemed to be held there
+by taut suspense. She stood up, her hand on the
+mantel-piece, bending her ears for further sounds.
+Then she heard a heavy, even tread approaching.
+How could it be? And yet, though a score of years
+had sped since it had fallen on her ears, she knew
+it well. "It can't be!" she gasped. "It's somebody
+else that happens to walk like him; he'd never
+dare to—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">The step had reached the porch. The sagging
+floor bent and creaked. It was Joe Boyd. She
+knew it now full well, for no one else would have paused
+like that before rapping. There was silence. The
+visitor was actually feeling for the door-latch. It
+was like Joe Boyd, after years of absence, to have
+thought to enter her house as of old without
+the formality of announcing himself. He tried the
+latch; the door was fast. He paused another moment,
+then rapped firmly and loudly. Ann stood
+motionless, her face pale and set almost in a grimace
+of expectancy. Then Boyd stalked heavily to
+the window at the end of the porch; she saw his
+bushy head and beard against the small square of
+glass. As one walking in sleep, Ann stepped close
+to the window, and through the glass their eyes
+met in the first visual greeting since he had gone
+away.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Open the door, Ann," he said, simply. "I want
+to see you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Huh, you <em class="italics">do</em>, do you?" she cried. "Well, you
+march yourself through that gate an' come round
+here in daytime. I see myself opening up at night
+for you or anybody else."</p>
+<p class="pnext">He pressed his face closer to the glass. His
+breath spread moisture upon it, and he raised his
+hands on either side of his head that he might more
+clearly see within.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I want to see you, Ann," he repeated, simply.
+"I've been riding since dinner, and just got here;
+my hoss is lame."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Huh!" she sniffed. "I tell you, Joe Boyd, I'll
+not—" She went no further. Something in his
+aging features tied her tongue. He had really altered
+remarkably; his face was full of lines cut
+since she had seen him. His beard had grown
+rough and bristly, as had his heavy eyebrows. How
+little was he now like the once popular beau of
+the country-side who had been considered the best
+"catch" among young farmers! No, she had not
+thought of him as such a wreck, such an impersonation
+of utter failure, and even resignation to it.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I reckon you'd better open the door an' let me
+in, Ann," he said. "I won't bother you long. I've
+just a few words to say. It's not about me. It's
+about Nettie."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, it's about the child!" Ann breathed more
+freely. "Well, wait a minute, till I make a light."</p>
+<p class="pnext">He saw her go to the mantel-piece and get a candle
+and bend over the fire. There was a sudden flare
+of bluish flame as the dripping tallow became ignited
+in the hot ashes, then she straightened up and
+placed the light on a table. She moved slowly to
+the door and opened it. They stood face to face.
+He started—as if from the habit of general greeting—to
+hold out his rough hand, but changed his mind
+and rubbed it awkwardly against his thigh as his
+dumb stare clung to hers.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes," he began, doggedly, "it's about Nettie."
+He had started to close the door after him, but,
+grasping the shutter firmly, Ann pushed it back
+against the wall.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Let the door stand open," she said, harshly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh," he grunted, stupidly, "I didn't know but
+somebody passin' along the road might—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, let 'em pass and look in, too," Ann retorted.
+"I'd a sight rather they'd pass and see
+you here in open candle-light than to have the door
+of my house closed with us two behind it. Huh!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well," he said, a blear in his big, weary eyes,
+"you know best, I reckon. I admit I don't go deep
+into such matters. It's sorter funny to see you so
+particular, though, and with—with <em class="italics">me</em>."</p>
+<p class="pnext">He walked to the fire and mechanically held out
+his hands to the warmth. Then, with his back to
+the red glow, he stood awkwardly, his eyes on the
+floor. After a pause, he said, suddenly: "If you
+don't mind, Ann, I'd rather set down. I'm tired to
+death, nearly, from that blasted long ride. Coming
+down-hill for five or six miles on a slow, stiff-jointed
+hoss is heavy on a man as old as I am."</p>
+<p class="pnext">She reached behind her and gave him a chair, but
+refused to sit down herself, standing near him as he
+sank into the chair; and, quite in his old way, she
+noticed he thrust out his pitifully ill-shod feet to
+the flames and clasped his hair-grown hands in his
+lap—that, too, in the old way, but with added
+feebleness.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You said it was about the child," Ann reminded
+him. "Ain't she well?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh yes, she's well an' hearty," Boyd made
+haste to reply. "I reckon you may think it's odd
+fer me to ride away over here, but, Ann, I'm a man
+that feels like I want to do my full duty if I can in
+this life, and I've been bothering a lots here lately—a
+lots. I've lost sleep over a certain delicate matter,
+but nothing I kin do seems to help me out.
+It's a thing, you see, that I couldn't well ask advice
+on, and so I had to tussle with it in private. Finally
+I thought I'd just ride over and lay the whole thing
+before you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, what is it?" Ann asked.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It's about the hardest thing to talk about that
+I ever tried to approach," Boyd said, with lowered
+glance, "but I reckon I'll have to get it out and be
+done with it, one way or another. You see, Ann,
+when the law gave me the custody of the child I
+was a younger man, with more outlook and health
+and management, in the judgment of the court, than
+I've got now, and I thought that what I couldn't
+do for my own flesh and blood nobody else could,
+and so I took her off."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"<em class="italics">Yes, you took her off!</em>" Ann straightened up,
+and a sneer touched her set features; there was a
+sarcastic, almost triumphant cry of vindictiveness in
+her tone.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, I thought all that," Boyd continued. "And
+I meant well, but miscalculated my own capacity
+and endurance. Instead of making money hand
+over hand as folks said almost any man could do
+out West, I sunk all I put in. We come back this
+way then, and I located in Gilmer, thinking I'd do
+better on soil I understood, and among the kind o'
+folks and religion I was used to, but it's been down-hill
+work ever since then. When Nettie was little
+it didn't seem like so much was demanded, but now,
+Ann, she's like all the balance o' young women of
+her age. She wants things like the rest around her,
+an' she pines for them, an' sulks, and—and makes
+me feel awful. It's a powerful hard matter for me
+to dress her like some o' the rest about us, and she's
+the proudest thing that ever wore shoe-leather."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, I see!" said Ann. "She's going about, too,
+with—she's bein' courted by some feller or other."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, Sam Lawson, over there, a likely young
+chap, has taken a big fancy to her, and he's good
+enough, too, but I reckon a little under the influence
+of his daddy, who is a hard-shell Baptist, a man that
+believes in sanctification and talks it all the time.
+Well, to come down to it, things between Nettie
+and Sam is sorter hanging fire, and Nettie's nearly
+crazy for fear it will fall through. And that's why,
+right now, I screwed up to the point of coming to
+see you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You thought I could help her out in her courting?"
+Ann sneered, and yet beneath her sneer lay
+an almost eager curiosity.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, not that exactly"—Joe Boyd spread out
+his rough fingers very wide to embrace as much of
+his dust-coated beard as possible; he pulled downward
+on a rope of it, and let his shifting glance rest
+on the fire—"not that exactly, Ann."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, then, I don't understand, Joe Boyd," Ann
+said; "and let me tell you that no matter what sort
+of young thing I was when we lived together, I'm
+now a <em class="italics">business</em> woman, and a <em class="italics">successful</em> one, and I
+have a habit of not beating about the bush. I talk
+straight and make others do the same. Business is
+business, and life is short."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I'll talk as straight as I can," Boyd swallowed.
+"You see, as I say, old Lawson is a narrow,
+grasping kind of a man, and he can't bear the idea
+of his only boy not coming into something, even
+if it's very little, and I happen to know that he's
+been expecting my little farm over there to fall to
+Nettie."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, <em class="italics">won't</em> it?" Ann demanded.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Boyd lowered his shaggy head. There was a
+piteous flicker of despair in the lashes of the eyes
+Ann had once loved so well.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It's mortgaged to the hilt, Ann," he gulped,
+"and next Wednesday if I can't pay down five
+hundred to Carson in Darley, it will go under the
+hammer. That will bust Nettie's love business all
+to flinders. Old Lawson's got Sam under his thumb,
+and he'll call it off. Nettie knows all about it.
+She's no fool for a girl of her age; she found out
+about the debt; she hardly sleeps a wink, but mopes
+about with red eyes all day long. I thought I had
+trouble away back when me 'n' you—away back
+there, you know—but I was younger then, and this
+sorter seems to be <em class="italics">my</em> fault."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ann fell to quivering with excitement as she
+reached for a chair and leaned upon it, her stout
+knee in the seat, her strong, bare arms resting on
+the back.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Right here I want to ask you one question, Joe
+Boyd, before we go a step further. Did Mary Waycroft
+make a proposal to Nettie—did Mary Waycroft
+hint to Nettie that maybe I'd be willing to
+help her along in some substantial way?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">The farmer raised a pair of shifting eyes to the
+piercing orbs above him, and then looked down.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I believe she did something of the sort, Ann," he
+said, reluctantly, "but, you see—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I see nothing but <em class="italics">this</em>," Ann threw into the gap
+left by his sheer inability to proceed—"I see nothing
+but the fact that my proposition scared her nearly
+to death. She was afraid it would get out that she
+was having something to do with me, and now, if I
+do rescue this land from public sale, I must keep
+in the background, not even let her know where
+the money is coming from."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I didn't say <em class="italics">that</em>," Boyd said, heavily stricken
+by the combined force of her tone and words. "The—the
+whole thing's for <em class="italics">you</em> to decide on. I've tussled
+with it till I'm sick and tired. I wouldn't
+have come over if I hadn't thought it was my
+bounden duty to lay it before you. The situation
+has growed up unforeseen out of my trouble and
+yours. If you want the girl's land to go under
+hammer and bust up her marriage, that's all right.
+I won't cry about it, for I'm at the end of my rope.
+You see, law or no law, she's yore natural flesh and
+blood, jest as she is mine, an' she wasn't—the girl
+wasn't responsible fer what you an' me tuck a notion
+to do away back there. The report is out
+generally that everything you touch somehow turns
+to gold—that you are rolling in money. That's
+the reason I thought it was my duty—by God,
+Ann Lincoln"—his eyes were flashing with something
+like the fire which had blazed in them when
+he had gone away in his health and prime—"I
+wouldn't ask you for a red cent, for myself, not if
+I was dying for a mouthful of something to eat.
+I'm doing this because it seems right according
+to my poor lights. The child's happiness is at
+stake; you can look at it as you want to and act
+as you see fit."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ann bit her lip; a shudder passed over her strong
+frame from head to foot. She lowered her big head
+to her hands. "Sometimes," she groaned, "I wish
+I could actually curse God for the unfairness of my
+lot. The hardest things that ever fell to the fate of
+any human being have been mine. In agony, Jesus
+Christ prayed, they say, to let His cup pass if
+possible. <em class="italics">His</em> cup! What <em class="italics">was</em> His cup? Just death—that's
+all; but <em class="italics">this</em> is a million times worse than
+death—this here crucifixion of pride—this here
+forcing me to help and protect people who deny me,
+who shiver at a hint of my approach, yelling 'Unclean,
+unclean!' like the lepers outside the city
+gates—beyond the walls that encompass accepted
+humanity. Joe Boyd"—she raised her face and
+stared at him—"you don't no more know me
+than you know the stars above your head. I am
+no more the silly girl that you married than I am
+some one else. I learned the lesson of life away
+back there when you left in that wagon with the
+child of my breast. I have fought a long battle,
+and I'm still fighting. To me, with all my experience,
+you—you poor little thing—are a baby of a
+man. You had a wife who, if she <em class="italics">does</em> say it, had
+the brain of a dozen such men as you are, and yet
+you listened to the talk of a weak, jealous, disappointed
+woman and came and dared to wipe your
+feet on me, spit in my face, and drag my name into
+the mire of public court. I made no defence then—I
+don't make any now. I'll never make any. My
+life shall be my defence before God, and Him only.
+I wish it could be a lesson to all young women who
+are led into misfortune such as mine. To every
+unfortunate girl I'd say, 'Never marry a man too
+weak to understand and appreciate you.' I loved
+you, Joe Boyd, as much as a woman ever loved a
+man, but it was like the love of a strong man for a
+weak, dependent woman. Somehow I gloried in your
+big, hulking helplessness. What I have since done in
+the management of affairs I wanted to do for you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, I know all that, Ann, but this is no time or
+place to—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But it's <em class="italics">got</em> to be the time and place," she retorted,
+shaking a stiff finger in his face. "I want
+to show you one side of this matter. I won't mention
+names, but a man, an old man, come to me one
+day. He set there on my door-step and told me
+about his life of his own free will and accord, because
+he'd heard of mine, and wanted to comfort
+me. He'd just buried his wife—a woman he'd
+lived with for thirty-odd years, and big tears rolled
+down his cheeks while he was talking. He said he
+was going to tell me what he'd never told a living
+soul. He said away back, when he was young, he
+loved his wife and courted her. He saw that she
+loved him, but she kept holding off and wouldn't
+give in till he was nearly distracted; then he said
+her mother come to him and told him what the
+trouble was. It was because the girl had had bad
+luck like I did. She loved him and wanted to
+make him a good wife, but was afraid it would be
+wrong. He said he told the girl's mother that it
+made no difference to him, and that he then and
+there promised never on this earth to mention it to
+her, and he never did. She was the woman he
+lived with for a third of a century in holy wedlock,
+and who he couldn't speak of without shedding tears.
+Now, Joe Boyd, here's my point—the only difference
+I can see in that woman's conduct and mine is that
+I would have told you, but I didn't think you was
+the kind of a man to tell a thing like that to. I
+didn't think you was strong enough, as a man, but
+I thought your happiness and mine depended on
+our marriage, and so after you had dogged my steps
+for years I consented. So you see, if—if, I say—you
+had gone and let the old matter drop, you
+wouldn't have been in the plight you are now, and
+our child would have had more of the things she
+needed."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"There are two sides to it," Boyd said, raising a
+sullen glance to her impassioned face. "And that
+reminds me of an old man I knew about. He was
+the best husband that ever walked the earth. He
+loved his wife and children, and when he was seventytwo
+years of age he used to totter about with his
+grandchildren all day long, loving them, with his
+whole heart. Then one day proof was handed him—actual
+proof—that not a speck of his blood flowed
+in their veins. He was hugging one of the little
+ones in his arms when he heard the truth. Ann, it
+killed him. That's t'other side. You nor me can't
+handle a matter as big and endless as that is. The
+Lord God of the universe is handling ours. We can
+talk and plan, but most of us, in a pinch, will do as
+generations before us have done in sech delicate
+matters."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I suppose so." Ann's lips were white; there was
+a wild, hunted look in her great, staring eyes.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I tried to reason myself out of the action I
+finally took," Boyd went on, deliberately, "but
+there was nothing else to do. I was bothered nigh
+to death. The thing was running me stark crazy.
+I had to chop it off, and I'm frank to say, even at
+this late day, that I don't see how I could have done
+otherwise. But I didn't come here to fetch all this
+up. It was just the other matter, and the belief
+that it was my duty to give you a chance to act on
+it as you saw fit."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"If her wedding depends on it, the farm must be
+saved," Ann said, quietly. "I give away money
+to others, why shouldn't I to—to her? I'll get a
+blank and write a check for the money."</p>
+<p class="pnext">He lowered his head, staring at the flames.
+"That's for you to decide," he muttered. "When
+the debt is paid the land shall be deeded to her.
+I'll die rather than borrow on it again."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ann went to the clock on the mantel-piece and
+took down a pad of blank checks and a pen and bottle
+of ink. Placing them on the table, she sat down
+and began to write with a steady hand and a firm
+tilt of her head to one side.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Hold on!" Boyd said, turning his slow glance
+upon her. "Excuse me, but there's one thing we
+haven't thought of."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ann looked up from the paper questioningly.
+"What is that?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, you see, I reckon I'd have to get that
+check cashed somewhere, Ann, and as it will have
+your name on it, why, you see, in a country where
+everybody knows everybody else's business—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I understand," Ann broke in—"they would know
+I had a hand in it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, they would know that, of course, if I made
+use of that particular check."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ann Boyd rested her massive jaw on her hand in
+such a way as to hide her face from his view. She
+was still and silent for a minute, then she rose, and,
+going to the fire, she bent to the flame of a pine-knot
+and destroyed the slip of paper.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't <em class="italics">usually</em> keep that much money about the
+house," she said, looking down on him, "but I happen
+to have some hidden away. Go out and get
+your horse ready and I'll bring it to you at the
+fence."</p>
+<p class="pnext">He obeyed, rising stiffly from his chair and reaching
+for his worn slouch hat.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He was standing holding his bony horse by the
+rein when she came out a few minutes later and
+gave him a roll of bills wrapped in a piece of cloth.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Here it is," she said. "You came after it under
+a sense of duty, and I am sending it the same way.
+I may be made out of odd material, but I don't care
+one single thing about the girl. If you had come
+and told me she was dead, I don't think I'd have
+felt one bit different. It might have made me a
+little curious to know which of us was going next—you,
+me, or her—that's all. Good-bye, Joe Boyd."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Good-bye, Ann," he grunted, as he mounted his
+horse. "I'll see that this matter goes through
+right."</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="xviii">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id19">XVIII</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">Colonel Preston Chester and
+his son Langdon were at breakfast two
+days after this. The dining-room of
+the old mansion was a long, narrow
+chamber on the first floor, connected
+with the brick kitchen outside by a wooden passage,
+roofed, latticed at both sides, and vine-grown. The
+dining-room had several wide windows which opened
+on a level with the floor of the side veranda. Strong
+coffee, hot biscuits, and birds delicately browned
+were brought in by a turbaned black woman, who
+had once been a slave in the family, and then she
+discreetly retired.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The old gentleman, white-haired, pink and clear
+of complexion, and wearing a flowing mustache
+and an imperial, which he nervously clutched and
+twisted in his soft fingers, was not in a good humor.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Here I am ready to go to Savannah, as I promised,
+to pay a visit and bring your mother back,"
+he fumed, "and now find that you have taxed my
+credit at the bank so heavily with your blasted idleness
+and poker debts that they actually gave me a
+lecture about my financial condition. But I've certainly
+headed you off, sir. I left positive orders
+that no check of yours is to be honored during my
+absence."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You did that, father? Why—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Of course I did it. I can't put up with your
+extravagance and damnable habits, and I don't intend
+to."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But, father, I've heard you say you cost your
+parents on an average of four thousand dollars a
+year before you got married, and—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Don't begin that twaddle over again," roared
+the Colonel in his coffee-cup. "What my father
+did for me in those easy times has nothing to do
+with our condition in the present day. Besides, it
+was the custom of the times to live high, while now
+it's coming to be a disgrace to be idle or to have
+luxuries. We've got to work like the rest at something
+or other. Here's that Luke King back from
+the West with enough money to install his whole
+gang of white trash in one of the best places in the
+entire river valley, and is conducting a paper in
+Atlanta that everybody is talking about. Why,
+blast it all, I heard Governor Crawford say at the
+Capital City Club the other day that if he—mind
+you, the governor of the State—if he could get
+King's influence he would be re-elected sure. Think
+of that, when I put a fortune into your education.
+You are doing nothing for your name, while he's
+climbing like that on the poor chances he had."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, he had education, such as he needed,"
+Langdon replied, with a retaliatory glance at his
+father. "Ann Boyd sent him to school, you know."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The old man's eyes wavered; he drank from his
+cup silently, and then carefully wiped his mustache
+on his napkin. It was not the first time Langdon
+had dared to pronounce the woman's name in his
+presence, and it looked as if the Colonel dreaded
+further allusions.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I've got to make the trip to Savannah,"
+he said, still avoiding his son's glance, and trying to
+keep up his attitude of cold reproof. He was becoming
+convinced that Langdon was acquiring a
+most disagreeable habit of justifying his own wild
+conduct by what he had heard of his father's past,
+and this was decidedly irritating to the planter,
+who found enough to reproach himself with in reflecting
+upon what he had gone through without
+being held accountable for another career which
+looked quite as bad in the bud and might bear even
+worse fruit.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, I think myself, all jokes aside, that you
+ought to go," Langdon said. "I'll do the best I
+can to keep things straight here. The hunting will
+be good, and I can manage to kill time. You'll
+want to take along some spending money, father.
+Those old chums of yours down there will draw you
+into a poker game sure."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I'll cut that out, I reckon"—the Colonel smiled
+in spite of himself. Langdon was such a copy of
+what he had been at the same age that it seemed,
+under stress of certain memories, almost wrong to
+reprove him. "No, I've sworn off from cards, and
+that's one thing I want you to let alone. I don't
+want to hear of your having any more of those
+all-night carouses here, leaving bullet-holes in your
+grandfather's portrait, as you and your dissolute
+gang did the last time I was away. It's a wonder
+to me you and those fellows didn't burn the house
+down."</p>
+<p class="pnext">At this juncture Langdon was glad to see the
+overseer of the plantation on the veranda, and the
+Colonel went out to give him some instructions.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Two nights later, when he had seen his father off
+at the door and turned back into the great, partly
+lighted house, Langdon set about thinking how he
+could spend the evening and rid himself of the
+abiding sense of loneliness that had beset him. He
+might stroll over to Wilson's store, but the farmers
+he met there would be far from congenial, for he
+was not popular with many of them, and unless he
+could meet, which was unlikely at night, some
+drummer who would play poker freely with the
+funds of the house he represented against Langdon's
+ready promises to pay, his walk would be fruitless.
+No, he would not go to the store, he decided; and
+still he was in no mood, at so early an hour, for the
+solitude of his room or the antiquated library, from
+the shelves of which frowned the puritanical books
+of his Presbyterian ancestors. Irresolute, he had
+wandered to the front veranda again, and as he
+stood looking eastward he espied, through the trees
+across the fields and meadows, a light. It was Jane
+Hemingway's kitchen candle, and the young man's
+pulse beat more rapidly as he gazed at it. He
+had occasionally seen Virginia outside the house of
+evenings, and had stolen chats with her. Perhaps
+he might have such luck again. In any case, nothing
+would be lost in trying, and the walk would kill
+time. Besides, he was sure the girl was beginning
+to like him; she now trusted him more, and seemed
+always willing to talk to him. She believed he
+loved her; who could doubt it when he himself had
+been surprised at his tenderness and flights of eloquence
+when inspired by her rare beauty and sweetness?
+Sometimes he believed that his feeling for
+the beautiful, trustful girl was a love that would
+endure, but when he reflected on the difference in
+their stations in life he had grave and unmanly
+doubts. As he walked along the road, the light of
+Jane's candle, like the glow of a fire-fly, intermittently
+appearing and disappearing ahead of him through
+the interstices of the trees and foliage, the memory
+of the gossip about his father and Ann Boyd flashed
+unpleasantly upon him. Was he, after all, following
+his parent's early bent? Was family history repeating
+itself? But when the worst was said about
+that affair, who had been seriously injured? Certainly
+not the easy-going Colonel, surely not the
+sturdy pariah herself, who had, somehow, turned
+her enforced isolation to such purpose that she was
+rich in the world's goods and to all appearances
+cared not a rap for public opinion.</p>
+<hr class="docutils"/>
+<p class="pfirst">That day had been the gloomiest in Virginia's
+life. Early in the morning Jane had gone to Darley
+for the twentieth time to try to borrow the
+money with which to defray her expenses to Atlanta.
+She had failed again, and came home at dusk absolutely
+dejected.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It's all up with me!" she groaned, as she sank
+heavily into a chair in front of the cheerful fire
+Virginia had in readiness, and pushed her worn
+shoes out to the flames. "I went from one old
+friend to another, telling them my condition, but
+they seemed actually afraid of me, treating me almost
+like a stranger. They all told tales of need,
+although they seemed to have plenty of everything.
+Judge Crane met me in Main Street and told me I
+could appeal to the county fund and get on the
+pauper list, but without offering to help me; he said
+he knew I'd almost rather die than fall so low. No,
+I'll not do that, Virginia. That's what would tickle
+Ann Boyd and some others powerfully."</p>
+<p class="pnext">With lagging steps and a heart like lead, Virginia
+went about preparing the simple meal. Her mother
+ate only hot buttered toast with boiled milk on it
+to soften it for her toothless gums, but the fair cook
+scarcely touched food at all. Her mother's grewsome
+affliction was in the sensitive girl's mind all
+through each successive day, and even at night her
+sleep was broken by intermittent dreams of this
+or that opportunity to raise the coveted money.
+Sometimes it was the jovial face of a crude, penniless
+neighbor who laughed carelessly as he handed
+her a cumbersome roll of bank-bills; again she would
+find a great heap of gold glittering in the sun, only
+to wake with her delicate fingers tightly clasped on
+nothing at all—to wake that she might lie and listen
+to Jane's sighs and moans as the old woman crouched
+over the ash-buried coals to light a tallow-dip to
+look, for the thousandth time, at the angry threat
+of fate upon her withered breast.</p>
+<p class="pnext">To-night, greatly wearied by her long ride and being
+on her feet so long, Jane went to bed early, and,
+when she was alone, Virginia, with a mental depression
+that had become almost physical pain, went out
+and sat on the front door-step in the moonlight. That
+very day a plan of her own in regard to the raising
+of the money had fallen to earth. She had heard
+of the munificent gift Luke King had made to his
+mother, and she determined that she would go to
+him, lay the case before him, and pledge herself to
+toil for him in any capacity till he was repaid; but
+when she had gone as far in the direction of the
+newly purchased farm as the Hincock Spring, she
+met Mary Bruce in a new dress and hat, and indirectly
+discovered that King had given up his last
+dollar of ready money to secure the property for his
+people. No, she would not take her own filial
+troubles to a young man who was so nobly battling
+with his own. At any other moment she might
+have had time to admire King's sacrifice, but her
+mind was too full of her own depressing problem to
+give thought to that of another. Her sharp reproof
+to him for his neglect of his mother during his absence
+in the West flitted through her memory, and
+at a less troubled moment she would have seen how
+ridiculously unjust her childish words must have
+sounded.</p>
+<p class="pnext">As she sat, weighted down with these things, she
+heard a step down the road. It was slow and
+leisured, if not deliberately cautious. It was accompanied
+by a persistent spark of fire which flitted
+always on a straight line, in view and out, among
+the low bushes growing close to the fence along the
+roadside. A moment later a handsome face in the
+flare of a burning cigar appeared, smiling confidently
+at the gate. It was Langdon Chester.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Come out here," he said, in a soft, guarded
+voice. "I want to see you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Virginia rose, listened to ascertain if her mother
+was still asleep, and then, drawing her light shawl
+about her shoulders, she went to the fence. He
+reached over the gate and took her hand and pressed
+it warmly. "I was awfully afraid I'd not see you,"
+he said. "I've failed so many times. My father
+left to-day, and I am very lonely in that big house
+with not a soul nearer than the negro-quarter."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It must be lonely," Virginia said, trying to be
+pleasant and to throw off her despondency.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Your mother went to town to-day, didn't she?"
+Chester pursued, still holding the hand which showed
+an indifferent inclination to quit his clasp. "I
+think I saw her coming back. Did she get what
+she went for?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, she failed utterly," Virginia sighed. "I
+don't know what to do. She's suffering awfully—not
+in bodily pain, you know, for there is none at
+all, but in the constant and morbid fear of death.
+It is an awful thing to be face to face, day after day,
+night after night, with a mother who is in such
+agony. I never dreamed such a fate could be in
+store for any young girl. It is actually driving me
+crazy."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, yes," Langdon said, hesitatingly. "I want
+to tell you something. I had a talk with my father
+about her just before he left. I've worried over it,
+too, little girl. Folks may run me down, you know,
+but I've got real feelings; and so, as a last resort, as
+I say, I told him about it. He's hard up himself,
+as you may know, along with our heavy family expenses,
+and interest on debts, and taxes, but I managed
+to put it in such a way as to get him interested,
+and he's promised to let me have the money
+provided he can make a certain deal down at Savannah.
+But he says it must be kept absolutely
+quiet, you understand. If he sends me this money,
+you must not speak of it to any one—the old man
+is very peculiar."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Virginia's heart bounded, the hot blood of a dazzling
+new hope pulsed madly in her veins. The
+tensity of her hand in his warm clasp relaxed; her
+eyes, into which his own passionate ones were melting,
+held kindling fires of gratitude and trust.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, oh, oh!" she cried, "if he only <em class="italics">would</em>!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, there is a splendid chance of his doing it,"
+Langdon said. "I was awfully afraid to mention
+the subject to him, you know, for fear that he would
+suspect my interest was wholly due to you, but it
+happens that he has never seen us together, and so
+he thought it was simply my sympathy for one of
+our neighbors. I had to do something, Virginia.
+I couldn't stay idle when my beautiful little sweetheart
+was in such downright trouble."</p>
+<p class="pnext">With a furtive glance towards the house and up
+and down the road, Langdon drew her towards him.
+Just one instant she resisted, and then, for the first
+time in her life, she allowed him to kiss her without
+open protest. She remained thus close to him,
+permitting him to stroke her soft, rounded cheeks
+gently. Never before were two persons impelled
+by diverse forces so closely united.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"When do you—you think your father will
+write?" she asked, her voice low, her soul almost
+shrieking in joy.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That depends," said Chester. "You see, he
+may not get at the matter <em class="italics">the very day</em> he arrives
+in Savannah, for he is a great old codger to let
+matters slide in the background while he is meeting
+old friends. But, little girl, I don't intend to let it
+slip out of his mind. I'll drop him a line and urge
+him to fix it up if possible. That, I think, will bring
+him around. Your mother is sound asleep," he
+added, seductively; "let's walk a little way down
+the road. I sha'n't keep you long. I feel awfully
+happy with you all to myself."</p>
+<p class="pnext">She raised no objection as he unfastened the
+latch of the gate with deft, noiseless fingers and,
+smiling playfully, drew her after him and silently
+closed the opening.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Now, this is more like it," he said. "Lovers
+should have the starry skies above them and open
+fields about. Forget your mother a little while,
+Virginia. It will all come out right, and you and
+I will be the happiest people in the world. Great
+Heavens! how perfectly lovely you are in the moonlight!
+You look like a statue of Venus waking to life."</p>
+<p class="pnext">They had reached the brook which rippled on
+brown stones across the road at the foot of the
+slight rise on which the cottage stood, when they
+saw some one approaching. It was Ann Boyd driving
+her cow home, her heavy skirts pinned up half-way
+to her stout knees. With one sharp, steady
+stare at them, Ann, without greeting of any kind,
+lowered her bare, dew-damp head and trudged on.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It's that miserly old hag, Ann Boyd," Langdon
+said, lightly. "I don't like her any more than she
+does me. I reckon that old woman has circulated
+more lies about me than all the rest of the country
+put together."</p>
+<p class="pnext">At the first sight of Ann, Virginia had withdrawn
+her hand from Langdon's arm and passionate clasp
+of fingers, but the action had not escaped Ann's
+lynx eyes.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It's coming, thank God, it's coming as fast as a
+dog can trot!" she chuckled as she plodded along
+after her waddling cow. "Now, Jane Hemingway,
+you'll have something else to bother about besides
+your blasted cancer—something that will cut your
+pride as deep as that does your selfish flesh. It
+won't fail to come, either. Don't I know the
+Chester method? Huh, if I don't, it isn't known.
+With his head bent that way, and holding her hand
+with hand and arm both at once, he might have been
+his father over again. Huh, I felt like tearing his
+eyes out, just now—the young beast! I felt like
+she was me, and the old brink was yawning again
+right at my feet. Huh, I felt that way about Jane
+Hemingway's daughter—that's the oddest thing of
+all! But she <em class="italics">is</em> beautiful; she's the prettiest thing
+I ever saw in all my life. No wonder he is after
+her; she's the greatest prize for a Chester in Georgia.
+Jane's asleep right now, but she'll wake before
+long and she'll wonder with all her wounded
+pride how God ever let her close her eyes. Yes,
+my revenge is on the way. I see the light its
+blaze has cast on ahead. It may be Old Nick's
+torch—what do I care? He can wave it, wave it,
+wave it!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">She increased her step till she overtook her cow.
+Laying her hand on the animal's back, she gently
+patted it. "Go on home to your calf, you hussy,"
+she laughed. "The young of even <em class="italics">your</em> sort is safer,
+according to the plan that guides the world, than
+Jane Hemingway's. She's felt so safe, too, that
+she's made it her prime object in life to devil a person
+for exactly what's coming under her own roof—<em class="italics">exactly
+to a gnat's heel</em>!"</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="xix">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id20">XIX</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">One evening, about four days later,
+Mrs. Waycroft hurried in to see Ann.
+The sharp-sighted woman, as she
+nodded indifferently to the visitor, and
+continued her work of raking live coals
+under a three-legged pot on the hearth, saw that
+Mrs. Waycroft was the fluttering bearer of news of
+some sort, but she made no show of being ready to
+listen to it. The widow, however, had come to be
+heard, she had come for the sheer enjoyment of
+recital.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Ann," she panted, "let that oven alone and listen
+to me. I've got about the biggest piece of news
+that has come your way in many a long day."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You say you have?" Ann's brass-handled poker
+rang as she gave a parting thrust at a burning
+chunk, and struck the leg of the pot.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, and I dropped on to it by the barest accident.
+About an hour after sunset to-day, I was
+in the graveyard, sitting over Jennie's grave, and
+planning how to place the new stones. I looked at
+the spot where I'd been sitting afterwards, and saw
+that it was well sheltered with thick vines. I was
+completely covered from the sight of anybody passing
+along the road. Well, as I was sitting there
+kind o' tired from my work and the walk, I heard a
+man's voice and a woman's. It was Langdon
+Chester and Virginia Hemingway. He seemed to
+be doing most of the talking, and since God made
+me, I never heard such tender love-making since I
+was born. I knew I had no business to listen, but
+I just couldn't help it. It took me back to the
+time I was a girl and used to imagine that some
+fine young man was coming to talk to me that way
+and offer me a happy home and all heart could desire.
+I never dreamed such tender words could fall
+from a man's tongue. I tried to see Virginia's face,
+but couldn't. He went on to say that his folks was
+to know nothing at present about him and her, but
+that everything would finally be satisfactorily arranged."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Huh, I reckon so!" Ann ejaculated, off her usual
+guard, and then she lapsed into discreet silence again.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But I got on to the biggest secret of all," Mrs.
+Waycroft continued. "It seems that Langdon has
+been talking in a roundabout way to his father
+about Jane's sad plight, and that Colonel Chester
+had agreed to send the money for the operation from
+Savannah."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Huh! he's got no money to give away," slipped
+again from Ann's too facile lips, "and if he <em class="italics">did</em> have
+it, he wouldn't—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, that may be, or it may not," said Mrs.
+Waycroft; "but Langdon said he wasn't going to
+wait for the check. He said a man in Darley had
+been bantering him for a long time to buy his fine
+horse, Prince, and as he didn't care to keep the
+animal, he had sent him by one of the negroes on
+the place this morning."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, he did that!" Ann panted. She carefully
+leaned the poker against the jamb of the fireplace
+and sat staring, her rugged face working under
+stress of deep and far-reaching thought.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"So I heard him say as plainly as you and me
+are talking right now. He said the negro couldn't
+possibly make the transfer and get back with the
+money till about ten o'clock to-night. And that,
+to me, Ann—just between us two, was the oddest
+thing of all. For he was begging her to slip away
+from home at that hour and come to his house for
+the money, so she could surprise her ma with it the
+first thing in the morning."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"He was, was he? huh!" Ann rose and went to
+the door and looked out. There she stood stroking
+her set face with a steady hand. She was tingling
+with excitement and trying to hide it. Then she
+turned back and bent low to look at the coals
+under her pot. "Well, I reckon she was willing
+to grant a little favor like that under the circumstances."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"She had to be begged powerful," said the visitor.
+"I never in all my life heard such pleading. Part
+of the time he'd scold her and reproach her with not
+caring for him like he did for her. Then he'd accuse
+her of being suspicious of him, even when he was
+trying his level best to help her out of trouble.
+Finally, he got to talking about how folks died, slow-like,
+from cancers, and what her real duty was to
+her mother. It was then that she give in. I know
+she did, though I didn't hear what she said, for he
+laughed out sudden, and gladlike, and I heard him
+kiss her and begin over again, about how happy
+they were going to be and the like. I reckon, Ann,
+he really <em class="italics">does</em> mean to marry her."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I reckon so," Ann said. "I reckon so. Such
+things have been known to happen."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, we'll wait and see what comes of it," said
+Mrs. Waycroft. "Anyway, Jane will get her cancer-money,
+and that's all she cares for. They say she's
+in agony day and night, driving Virginia distracted.
+I'm sorry for that pore little thing. I don't like her
+mammy, for treating you as she has so long and
+persistent, but I can't hold Virginia accountable."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ann shrugged her broad shoulders. There was
+a twinkling light of dawning triumph in each of her
+non-committal eyes, and unwonted color in her
+cheeks, all of which escaped the widow's notice.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, that wasn't the end," she said, tentatively.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I couldn't hear any more, Ann. They walked
+on. I stood up and watched them as they went on
+through the bushes, arm in arm, towards her home.
+I'm sure he loves her. Anybody would know it that
+heard him talk; besides she is pretty—you know
+that, Ann. She is the most beautiful girl I have
+ever seen anywhere. They looked fine, too, walking
+side by side. They say he's a spendthrift and
+got bad habits, but maybe his folks will be glad to
+have him settle down with such a sensible girl if she
+is poor. She'll keep him straight. I'd rather nothing
+is said about where Jane's money is coming from,
+Ann. That seems to be their secret, and I have no
+right to circulate it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I'll not talk it," Ann said. "It will be safe
+with me."</p>
+<p class="pnext">When the widow had left, Ann became a changed
+creature in outward appearance. She stood on the
+porch till her guest had disappeared in the dusk, and
+then she paced the floor of her sitting-room in a
+spasm of ecstasy, now and then shaken by a hearty
+laugh.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I see through him," she chuckled. "He is trying
+to ease his dirty conscience by paying money
+down. It's a slick trick—on a par with a promise
+to marry. He's telling his filthy soul that he's saving
+her mother's life. The girl's as blind as a bat—the
+average woman can only see one thing at a time;
+she's simply bent on getting that money, and thinks
+of nothing else. But, Jane Hemingway—old lady—I've
+got you where I want you at last. It won't be
+long before your forked tongue will be tied fast in a
+knot. You can't keep on after me publicly for
+what is in your own dirty flesh. And when you
+know the truth you'll know, too, that it all come
+about to save your worthless life. You'll get down
+on your knees then and beg the Lord to have
+mercy on you. Maybe you'll remember all you've
+done against me from your girl-days till now as you
+set with your legs dangling in the grave. Folks will
+shun your house, too, unless you rid it of contagion.
+But you <em class="italics">bet I'll</em> call. I'll send in <em class="italics">my</em> card. Me'n'
+you'll be on a level then, and we'll owe it to the
+self-same high and mighty source."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ann suddenly felt a desire for the open air, as if
+the very walls of her house checked the pleasurable
+out-pourings of her triumph, and she went outside
+and strode up and down in the yard, fairly aflame
+with joy. All at once she paused; she was confronting
+the sudden fear that she might be fired by
+a false hope. Virginia, it was true, had agreed to
+go to Chester's at the appointed hour, but might
+she not, in calmer moments, when removed from
+Langdon's persistent influence, think better of it
+and stay at home? Ah, yes, there was the chance
+that the girl might fail to keep the appointment,
+and then—</p>
+<p class="pnext">Cold from head to foot, Ann went back into the
+cottage and stood before the fire looking at the
+clock. It was fifteen minutes of ten, and ten was
+the hour. Why not make sure of the outcome?
+Why not, indeed? It was a good idea, and would
+save her days and days of suspense.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Going out, Ann trudged across the dewy meadow,
+her coarse skirt clutched in her hands till she stood
+in one of the brier-grown fence-corners near the
+main road. Here, quite hidden from the open view
+of any one passing, by the shade of a young mulberry-tree,
+whose boughs hung over her like the ribs
+of an umbrella, she stood and waited. She must
+have been there ten minutes or more, her tense gaze
+on the road leading to Jane Hemingway's cottage,
+when she was sure she heard soft footsteps coming
+towards her. Yes, it was some one, but could it
+be—? It was a woman's figure; she could see that
+already, and, yes, there could be no mistake now—it
+<em class="italics">was</em> Virginia. There was no one in the neighborhood
+quite so slight, light of foot, and erect. Ann
+suddenly crouched down till she could peer between
+the lower rails of the fence. She held her breath
+while the girl was passing, then she clasped her
+hands over her knees and chuckled. "It's <em class="italics">her</em>!"
+she whispered. "It's her, and she's headed for
+everlasting doom if ever a creature walked into a
+net of damnation."</p>
+<p class="pnext">When Virginia was thirty or forty yards away,
+Ann cautiously climbed over the fence, almost
+swearing in impatience as she pulled her skirts from
+the detaining clutch of thorns, briers, and splinters,
+and with her head down she followed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I'll make dead sure," she said, between pressed
+lips. "This is a matter I don't want to have a
+shadow of a doubt about."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Presently, the long, white palings comprising the
+front fence at the Chesters' appeared into view, and
+the dark, moving figure of the girl outlined against
+it could be seen more clearly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Virginia moved onward till she had reached the
+gate. The smooth, steel latch clicked; there was
+a rip of darkness in the ribbon of white; the hinges
+creaked; the gate closed with a slam, as if it had
+slipped from nerveless fingers, and the tall boxwood
+bordering the walk to the door of the old
+house swallowed Virginia from the sight of her grim
+pursuer.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That will do me," Ann chuckled, as she turned
+back, warm with content in every vein. On her
+rapid walk to her house she allowed her fancy to
+play upon scores of situations in which the happening
+of that night would bring dire humiliation and
+shame to her enemy. Ann well knew what was
+coming; she had only to hold the album of her
+own life open and let the breeze of chance turn the
+pages to view what Jane Hemingway was to look
+upon later.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="xx">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id21">XX</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">Ann had just closed her gate, and was
+turning towards her door, when she
+heard a sound on the porch, and a
+man stepped down into the yard. It
+was Luke King.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, hello, Aunt Ann!" he cried out, cheerily.
+"Been driving hogs out of your field I'll bet. You
+need me here with my dog Pomp, who used to be
+such a dandy at that job."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, it's you, Luke!" Ann cried, trying to collect
+herself, after the start he had given her.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, I didn't mean to come at this hour of night,
+but as I was riding by just now, on my way home
+to see my mother, who is not exactly well, I noticed
+your door open, and not seeing you in sight, I hitched
+my horse up the road a piece and came back and
+watched at the gate. Then not hearing any sound,
+and knowing you never go to bed with your door
+open, I went in. Then you bet I <em class="italics">was</em> scared.
+Things do once in a while happen here in the mountains,
+and—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, well, nothing was the matter with me,"
+Ann smiled. "Besides, I can take care of myself."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I know that, too," he said. "I'm glad to get
+this chance to talk to you. I understand that
+mother is not as ill as they thought she was, and
+I'll have to catch the first train back to Atlanta in
+the morning. I'm doing pretty well down there,
+Aunt Ann."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I know it, Luke, and I'm glad," Ann said, her
+mind still on the things she had just witnessed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But you haven't yet forgiven me for giving my
+people that farm. I can see that by your manner."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I thought it was foolish," she replied.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But that's because you simply don't know all
+about it, Aunt Ann," he insisted. "I don't want
+to make you mad again; but really I would do that
+thing over again and again. It has helped me more
+than anything I ever did. You see, you've been
+thinking on one line all your life and, of late years,
+I have been on quite another. You are a great
+woman, Aunt Ann, but you still believe that the
+only way to fight is to hit back. You have been
+hitting back for years, and may keep on at it for a
+while, but you'll see the truth one of these days,
+and you'll actually love your neighbors—even your
+vilest enemies. You'll come to see—your big brain
+will simply <em class="italics">have</em> to grasp it—that your retaliation,
+being obedient to bad life-laws, is as blamable as
+the antagonism of your enemies. The time will
+come when your very suffering will be the medium
+through which you will view and pity their sordid
+narrowness. Then you'll appear to them in their
+long darkness as a blazing light; they will look up
+to you as a thing divine; they will fall blinded at
+your feet; they will see your soul as it has always
+been, pure white and dazzlingly bright, and look
+upon you as the very impersonation of—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Huh, don't be a fool!" Ann sank on the edge
+of the porch, her eyes fixed angrily on the ground.
+"You are ignorant of what you are talking about—as
+ignorant as a new-born baby. You are a silly
+dreamer, boy. Your life is an easy, flowery one,
+and you can't look into a dark, rugged one like
+mine. If God is at the head of all things, he put
+evil here as well as the good, and to-night I'm
+thankful for the evil. I'm tasting it, I tell you, and
+it's sweet, sweet, sweet!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Ah, I know," King sighed. "You are trying
+to make yourself believe you are glad Mrs. Hemingway
+is in such agony over her affliction."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I didn't say anything about her affliction."
+Ann stared half fearfully into his honest face.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But I know you well enough to see that's what
+you are driving at." King sat down beside her,
+and for a moment rested his hand on her shoulder.
+"But it's got to end. It shall not go on. I am
+talking to you, Aunt Ann, with the voice of the
+New Thought that is sweeping the face of the world
+to-day—only that mountain in the east and that one
+in the west have dammed its flow and kept it from
+this benighted valley. I did not intend yet to tell
+you the great overwhelming secret of my life, but I
+want to do it to-night. You love me as a son. I
+know that, and I love you as a mother. You are
+in a corner—in the tightest place you've ever been
+in in all your life. I'm going to ask you to do
+something for my sake that will tear your very
+soul out by the roots. You'll have to grant my
+wish or refuse—if you refuse, I shall be miserable
+for life."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Luke, what's the matter with you?" Ann
+shook his hand from its resting-place on his shoulder,
+and with bated breath leaned towards him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">King was silent for a moment, his brows drawn
+together, his head lowered, his strong, manly hands
+clasped between his knees. A buggy passed along
+the road. In it sat Fred Masters and another man.
+Both were smoking and talking loudly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, listen, and don't break in, Aunt Ann,"
+King said, in a calm, steady voice. "I'm going to
+tell you something you don't yet know. I'm going
+to tell you of my first and only great love."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, is <em class="italics">that</em> it?" Ann took a deep breath of relief.
+"You've been roped in down there already,
+eh? Well, I thought that would come, my boy,
+with the papers full of you and your work."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Wait, I told you not to break in," he said. "I
+don't believe I'm a shallow man. To me the right
+kind of love is as eternal as the stars, and every bit
+as majestic. Mine, Aunt Ann, began years ago,
+here in the mountains, on the banks of these streams,
+in the shadow of these green hills. I loved her when
+she was a child. I went far off and met women of
+all sorts and ranks, and in their blank faces I always
+saw the soulful features of my child sweetheart. I
+came back here—<em class="italics">here</em>, do you understand, to find
+her the loveliest full-grown human flower that ever
+bloomed in God's spiritual sunshine."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You mean—great God, you mean—? Look here,
+Luke King." Ann drew her body erect, her eyes
+were flashing fire. "Don't tell me it is Virginia
+Hemingway. Don't, don't—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That's who it is, and no one else this side of
+heaven!" he cried, in an impassioned voice. "That's
+who it is, and if I lose her—if I lose her my life will
+be a total failure. I could never rise above it,
+<em class="italics">never</em>!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Their eyes met in a long, steady stare.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You love that girl!" Ann gasped; "<em class="italics">that girl!</em>"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"With all my soul and body," he answered, fervidly.
+"Life, work, success, power, nothing under
+high heaven can knock it out of me. She has got
+to be mine, and you must never interfere, either.
+I love you as a son loves his mother, and you must
+not take her from me. You must do more—you
+must help me. I've never asked many things of
+you. I ask only this one—give her to me, help me
+to win her. That's all. Now we understand each
+other. She's the whole world to me. She's young;
+she may be thoughtless; her final character is just
+forming; but she is destined to be the grandest,
+loveliest woman on the face of the earth. She is to
+be my wife, Aunt Ann—<em class="italics">my wife</em>!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ann's head sank till her massive brow touched
+her crossed arms; he could see that she was quivering
+from head to foot. There was a long pause,
+then the woman looked up, faint defiance struggling
+in her face.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You <em class="italics">are</em> a fool," she said. "A great, big, whimpering
+fool of a man. She's the only one, eh? Jane
+Hemingway's daughter is an angel on earth, above
+all the rest. Huh! and just because of her pretty
+face and slim body and high head. Huh, oh, you
+<em class="italics">are</em> a fool—an idiot, if there ever was one!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Stop, talk sense, if you <em class="italics">will</em> talk," he said, sternly,
+his eyes flashing. "Don't begin to run her down.
+I won't stand it. I know what she is. I know she
+was made for me!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"She's not a whit better than the average," Ann
+retorted, her fierce eyes fixed on his face. "She's
+as weak as any of the rest. Do you know—do you
+know—" Ann looked away from him. "Do you
+know Langdon Chester has his eye on her, that he
+is following her everywhere, meeting her unbeknownst
+to her old mammy?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, I know that, too," King surprised her with
+the statement; "and between you and me, that as
+much as my mother's sickness made me lay down
+my work and come up here to-night. It is the
+crisis of my whole life. She is at the turning-point
+of hers, just as you were at yours when you were
+a young and happy girl. She might listen to him,
+and love him; it is as natural for her to believe in
+a well-acted lie, as it is for her to be good and pure.
+Listen and don't get mad—the grandest woman I
+ever knew once trusted in falseness, and suffered.
+Virginia might, too; she might enter the life-darkness
+that you were led into by sheer faith in mankind,
+and have a life of sorrow before her. But if
+it should happen, Aunt Ann, my career in the right
+way would end."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You wouldn't let a—a thing like that—" Ann
+began, anxiously, "a thing like that ruin your whole
+life, when—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Wouldn't I? You don't know me. These two
+hands would be dyed to the bone with the slow
+death-blood of a certain human being, and I would
+go to the gallows with both a smile and a curse.
+That's why it's my crisis. I don't know how far it
+has gone. I only know that I want to save her
+from—yes, from what you've been through, and
+lay my life and energy at her feet."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Jane Hemingway's <em class="italics">daughter</em>!" Ann Boyd groaned.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, Jane Hemingway's daughter. You hate
+her, I know, with the unreasonable hatred that
+comes from despising her mother, but you've got
+to help me, Aunt Ann. You put me where I am,
+in education and standing, and you must not see
+me pulled down."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"How could I help you, even—even—oh, you
+don't know, you don't know that at this very
+minute—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh yes, he may be with her right now, for all
+I know," King broke in, passionately. "He may
+be pouring his lies into her confiding ear at this very
+minute, as you say, but Fate would not be cruel
+enough to let them harm her. You must see her,
+Aunt Ann. For my sake, you must see her. You
+will know what to say. One word from you would
+open her eyes, when from me it would be an offence.
+She would know that you knew; it would shock her
+to her very soul, but it would—if she's actually in
+danger—save her; I know her well enough for that;
+it would save her."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You are asking too much of me, Luke," Ann
+groaned, almost in piteous appeal. "I can't do it—I
+just <em class="italics">can't</em>!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, you will," King said. "You have got a
+grand soul asleep under that crust of sordid hatred
+and enmity, and it will awake, now that I have laid
+bare my heart. You, knowing the grim penalty of
+a false step in a woman's life, will not sit idle and
+see one of the gentlest of your kind blindly take it.
+You can't, and you won't. You'll save her for me.
+You'll save me, too—save me from the fate of a
+murderer."</p>
+<p class="pnext">He stood up. "I'm going now," he finished. "I
+must hurry on home. I won't have time to see you
+in the morning before I leave, but you now know
+what I am living for. I am living only for Virginia
+Hemingway. Men and women are made for each
+other, we were made for each other. She may
+fancy she cares for that man, but she doesn't, Aunt
+Ann, any more than you now care for—but I won't
+say it. Good-bye. You are angry now, but you
+will get over it, and—and, you will stand by me,
+and by her."</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="xxi">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id22">XXI</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">Left alone, still crouching on her door-step,
+Ann, with fixed eyes and a face
+like carved stone, watched him move
+away in the soft moonlight, the very
+embodiment of youth and faith. She
+twisted her cold hands between her knees and
+moaned. What was the matter with her, anyway?
+Was it possible that the recent raging fires of her
+life's triumph were already smouldering embers,
+half covered with the ashes of cowardly indecision?
+Was she to sit quaking like that because a mere
+youth wanted his toy? Was she not entitled to
+the sweet spoils of victory, after her long struggle
+and defence? Yes, but Virginia! After all, what
+had the innocent, sweet-natured girl to do with the
+grim battle? Never, in all Ann had heard of the
+constant gossip against her, had one word come
+from Virginia. Once, years ago, Ann recalled a
+remark of Mrs. Waycroft that the girl had tried to
+keep her mother from speaking so harshly of the
+lone brunt of general reproach, and yet Virginia
+was at that very moment treading the crumbling
+edge of the self-same precipice over which Ann had
+toppled.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The lone woman rose stiffly and went into the
+house to go to bed—to go to bed—to sleep! with
+all that battle of emotion in her soul and brain.
+The clock steadily ticking and throwing its round,
+brass pendulum from side to side caught her eye.
+It was too dark to see the hands, so she lighted a
+tallow-dip, and with the fixed stare of a dying person
+she peered into the clock's face. Half-past ten!
+Yes, there was perhaps time for the rescue. If she
+were to get to Chester's in time, her judgment of
+woman's nature told her one word from her would
+complete the rescue—the rescue of Jane Hemingway's
+child—Jane's chief hope and flag of virtue
+that she would still wave defiantly in her eyes.
+Without undressing—why, she could not have explained—Ann
+threw herself on her bed and buried
+her face in the pillow, clutching it with tense,
+angry hands.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, what's the matter with me?" she groaned.
+"Why did that fool boy come here to-night, telling
+me that it would bring him to the gallows stained
+to the bone with the dye of hell, and that <em class="italics">I</em> must
+keep her in the right road—me? Huh, me keep a
+girl in the right track, so they can keep on saying
+I'm the only scab on the body of the community?
+I won't; by all the powers above and below, <em class="italics">I won't</em>!
+She can look out for herself, even if it <em class="italics">does</em> ruin an
+idiot of a man and pull him—It really <em class="italics">would</em> ruin
+him, though. Maybe it would ruin <em class="italics">me</em>. Maybe
+he's right and I ought to make a life business of
+saving others from what I've been through—saving
+even my enemies. Christ said it; there is no doubt
+about that. He said it. He never had to go
+through with what I have, though, for He was free
+from the desire to fight, but He meant that one thing,
+as the one great law of life—<em class="italics">the only law of life</em>!
+Oh, God, I must do something! I must either save
+the girl or let it go on. I don't know which to
+do, as God is my creator, I don't actually know
+which to do. I don't—I don't—I don't—really—know—which—I
+<em class="italics">want</em> to do. That's it—I don't
+know which I <em class="italics">want</em> to do. I'm simply crazy to-night.
+I've never felt this way before. I've always
+been able to tell whether I wanted, or didn't
+want, a thing, but now—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">She turned over on her side. Then she sat up,
+staring at the clock. Next she put her feet on the
+floor and stood erect. "I won't," she said, between
+set teeth. "I won't. Before God, and all the imps
+of hell I'll not meddle with it. It's Jane Hemingway's
+business to look after her silly girl, and not
+mine."</p>
+<p class="pnext">She went again to the porch and stood staring
+out into the white moonlight. The steady beat of
+the hoofs of Luke King's horse, dying out on the
+still night, came to her. Dear, dear boy! he did
+love the girl and he never would be the same again—never.
+It would mean his downfall from the glorious
+heights he had climbed. He would grapple as
+a wild beast with the despoiler, and, as he said, go
+willingly to his own end? Yes, that was Luke King;
+he had preached of the rugged road to heaven, he
+would take the easier way to hell, and laugh in his
+despair at the whole thing as a joke of fate.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Before she knew it, Ann found herself out at her
+gate. Forces within her raised her hand to the
+latch and pushed her body through.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I'll not meddle," she said, and yet she moved on
+down the road. She met no one, heard nothing
+save the dismal croakings of the frogs in the marshes.
+On she went, increasing her speed at every step.
+Yes, she realized now that she must try to save the
+girl, for Virginia had done her no personal injury.
+No, she must abide another time and seek some
+other means for revenge against the mother. Chance
+would offer something. Why, the cancer—why
+hadn't she thought of that? Wasn't that enough
+for any human being to bear? Yes, Jane would get
+her reward. It was fast on the road. And for
+Luke's sake—for the sake of the brave, good-hearted,
+struggling boy, she would try to save his
+sweetheart. Yes, that seemed inevitable. The
+long, white fence of the Chester place suddenly cut
+across her view. Near the centre Ann descried the
+tall, imitation stone gate-posts, spanned at the top
+by a white crescent, and towards this portal she
+sped, breathing through her big nostrils like a laboring
+ox.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Reaching the gate and opening it, she saw a
+buggy and a pair of horses hitched near the door.
+Ann paused among the boxwood bushes and stared
+in perplexity. What could it mean? she asked herself.
+Had Colonel Chester suddenly returned home, or
+was Langdon recklessly planning to flee the country
+with the thoughtless girl? Mystified, Ann trudged
+up the gravelled walk, seeing no one, till she stood
+on the veranda steps. The big, old-fashioned
+drawing-room on the right of the dark entrance-hall
+was lighted up. Loud, masculine laughter and
+bacchanalian voices burst through the half-open
+windows. Ann went up the steps and peered in
+at one of them, keeping her body well back in the
+shadow. There were three men within—two drummers,
+one of whom was Fred Masters, and Langdon
+Chester. The latter, calm and collected, and yet
+with a look of suppressed fury on his face, was reluctantly
+serving whiskey from an ancient cut-glass
+decanter. Ann saw that he was on the verge of an
+angry outburst, and began to speculate on the
+cause. Ah! she had an idea, and it thrilled her
+through and through. Quietly retracing her steps
+to the lawn, she inspected the exterior of the great,
+rambling structure. She was now sure that the
+visit of the men had come in the nature of an unwelcome
+surprise to the young master of the house,
+and she found herself suddenly clinging to the
+warm hope that the accident might have saved the
+girl.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, God, let it be so!" Ann heard herself actually
+praying. "Give the poor young thing a chance to
+escape what I've been through!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">But where was the object of her quest? Surely,
+Virginia had not gone back home, else Ann would
+have met her on the way. Looking long and steadily
+at the house, Ann suddenly descried a dim light
+burning up-stairs in the front room on the left-hand
+side of the upper hall. Instinct told her that she
+ought to search there, and, going back to the house,
+the determined rescuer crossed the veranda, walked
+boldly through the open doorway, and tiptoed to
+the foot of the broad, winding stairway. Loud
+laughter, the clinking of glasses, and blatant voices
+raised in harsh college-songs burst upon her. The
+yawning space through which the stairs reached
+upward was dark, but with a steady hand on the
+smooth walnut balustrade, Ann mounted higher
+and higher with absolutely fearless tread. She had
+just gained the first landing, and stood there encompassed
+in darkness, when the door of the drawing-room
+was suddenly wrenched open and Langdon
+and Masters, in each other's arms, playfully
+struggled into view.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You really must go now, boys," Chester was
+saying, in a persuasive voice. "I don't want to be
+inhospitable, you know, but I have that important
+work to do, and it must be done to-night. It is a
+serious legal matter, and I promised to mail the
+papers to my father the first thing in the morning."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Papers nothing!" Masters cried, in a drink-muffled
+tone. "This is the first time I ever honored
+your old ancestral shack with my presence,
+and I won't be sent off like a tramp from the door.
+Besides, you are not open and above-board—you
+never were so at college. That was your great forte,
+freezing your friends out of asking questions where
+your private devilment was concerned. That, and
+the reputation of your family for fighting duels,
+kept the whole school afraid of you. On my honor,
+Dick," he called out to the man in the drawing-room,
+"I tell you I'm sure I saw a woman with
+him on the steps of the veranda as we drove up.
+He had hold of her hand and was pulling her into
+the hall."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Ah, don't be absurd," Ann heard Chester say,
+with a smooth, guarded laugh. "Get in your rig,
+boys, and drive back to the hotel. I'll see you in
+the morning."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Get in the rig nothing!" Masters laughed. "We
+are going to spend the night here, aren't we, Dick?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You bet; that's what I came for," a voice replied
+from within. "But let him go do his work, Fred.
+You and I can finish the game, and empty his decanter.
+You can't walk off with my money and
+not give me a chance to win it back."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, yes, that's a bang-up idea," Masters laughed,
+and he pushed Chester by main force back into the
+light. "You go burn the midnight oil, old man,
+and I'll make this tenderfoot telegraph his house
+for more expense money."</p>
+<p class="pnext">With a thunderous slam, the door was closed.
+Loud voices in hot argument came from the room,
+and then there was silence. Chester had evidently
+given up in despair of getting rid of his guests.
+Ann moved on up the steps. In the room on the
+left the light was still burning, she could see a pencil
+of it under the door-shutter. To this she groped
+and softly rapped, bending her ear to the key-hole
+to listen. There was no sound within. Ann rapped
+again, more loudly, her hand on the latch. She
+listened again, and this time she was sure she heard
+a low moan. Turning the bolt, she found the door
+locked, but at the same instant noticed that the key
+had been left in the door on the outside. Turning
+the key, Ann opened the door, went in, and softly
+closed the opening after her. A lamp, turned low,
+stood on the mantel-piece, and in its light she saw a
+crouching figure in a chair. It was Virginia, her
+face covered with her hand, moaning piteously.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Let me go home, for God's sake, let me go home!"
+she cried, without looking up. "You said I was
+to get the money, if I came only to the door, and
+now—oh, oh!" The girl buried her face still deeper
+in her apron and sobbed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ann, an almost repulsive grimace on her impassive
+face, stood over her and looked about the
+quaintly furnished room with its quiet puritanical
+luxury of space, at the massive mahogany centre-table,
+with carved legs and dragon-heads supporting
+the polished top, the high-posted bed and rich,
+old, faded canopy, the white counterpane and pillows
+looking like freshly fallen snow.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Thank God," Ann said, aloud.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Virginia heard, sat as if stunned for an instant,
+and then with a stare of bewilderment looked up.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh!" she gasped. "I thought it was—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I know, huh, child! nobody could know better
+than I do. Don't ask me what I come here for. I
+don't know any better than you do, but I come, and
+I'm going to get you out of it—that is, if I'm in
+time to do any good at all. Oh, you understand
+me, Virginia Hemingway. If I'm in time, you'll
+march out of here with me, if not, God knows you
+might as well stay here as anywhere else."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, Mrs. Boyd, how can you ask me such an
+awful—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, then, I won't!" Ann said, more softly.
+"Besides, I can see the truth in your young face.
+The Almighty has put lights in the eyes of women
+that only one thing can put out. Yours are still
+burning."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Virginia rose to her feet and clutched Ann's
+strong arm convulsively.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, if you only knew <em class="italics">why</em> I came, you'd not have
+the heart to think me absolutely bad. Mrs. Boyd,
+as God is my Judge, I came because he—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You needn't bother to tell me anything about
+it," Ann grunted, with a shrug of her shoulders. "I
+know why you come; if I hadn't suspicioned the
+truth I'd have let you alone, but I ain't going to
+tell you why I come. I come, that's all. I come,
+and if we are going to get out of here without a
+scandal we've got to be slick about it. Those devils
+are still carousing down there. Let's go now while
+the parlor door is shut."</p>
+<p class="pnext">They had reached the threshold of the chamber
+when Virginia drew back suddenly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"He told me not to dare to go that way!" she
+cried. "He said I'd be seen if I did. He locked
+me in, Mrs. Boyd—<em class="italics">he</em> locked the door!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I know that, too," Ann retorted, impatiently.
+"Didn't I have to turn the key to get in? But we've
+<em class="italics">got</em> to go this way. We've got to go down them
+steps like I come, and past the room where they
+are holding high carnival. We've got to chance it,
+but we must be quick about it. We haven't time
+to stand here talking."</p>
+<p class="pnext">She turned the carved brass knob and drew the
+shutter towards her. At the same instant she
+shrank back into Virginia's arms, for the drawing-room
+door was wrenched open, and Masters's voice
+rang out loudly in the great hall.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"We will see where he bunks, won't we, Dick?
+By George, the idea of an old college-chum refusing
+to let a man see his house! I want to look at the
+photographs you used to stick up on the walls, you
+sly dog! Oh, you've got them yet! You don't
+throw beauties like them away when they cost a
+dollar apiece."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Go back to your game, boys!" Langdon commanded,
+with desperate coolness. "I'll show you
+the house after a while. Finish your game!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"The cold-blooded scoundrel!" Ann exclaimed,
+under her breath. "Not a drop has passed his lips
+to-night, as much as he likes a dram." She closed
+the door gently and stood looking about the room.
+On the edge of the mantel-piece she saw something
+that gleamed in the dim lamplight, and she went
+to it. It was a loaded revolver.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"He threatened you with this, didn't he?" Ann
+asked, holding it before her with the easy clasp of
+an expert.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, he didn't do that," Virginia faltered, "but
+he told me if—if I made a noise and attracted their
+attention and caused exposure, he'd kill himself.
+Oh, Mrs. Boyd, I didn't mean to come here to this
+room at first. I swear I didn't. He begged me to
+come as far as the front door to get the money the
+man had brought back from Darley, then—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Then those drunken fools drove up, and he persuaded
+you to hide here," Ann interrupted, her
+mind evidently on something else. "Oh, I understand;
+they played into his hands without knowing
+it, and it's my private opinion that they saved you,
+silly child. You can't tell me anything about men
+full of the fire of hell. You'd 'a' gone out of this
+house at break of day with every bit of self-respect
+wrung out of you like water out of a rag. You'd
+'a' done that, if I hadn't come."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, Mrs. Boyd—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Don't oh Mrs. Boyd me!" Ann snapped out. "I
+know what I'm talking about. That isn't the point.
+The point is getting out to the road without a row
+and a scandal that will ring half-way round the
+world. Let a couple of foul-mouthed drummers
+know a thing like this, and they would actually
+pay to advertise it in the papers. I tell you, child—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ann broke off to listen. The door of the drawing-room
+seemed to be opened again, and as quickly
+closed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Come on." Ann held the revolver before her.
+"We've got to make a break for freedom. This
+ain't no place for a pure young woman. You've
+got what the highfaluting society gang at Darley
+would call a chaperon, but she isn't exactly of the
+first water, according to the way such things are
+usually graded. Seems like she's able to teach you
+tricks to-night."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Virginia caught Ann's arm. "You are not going
+to shoot—" she began, nervously.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Not unless I <em class="italics">have</em> to," Ann said. "But only
+hell knows what two drunken men and a cold, calculating
+devil of that brand will do in a pinch. I'll
+see you down them steps, and out into God's moonlight,
+if I have to drag you over enough corpses to
+make a corduroy road. I know how to shoot. I
+killed a squirrel once in a high tree with a pistol.
+Come on; they happen to be quiet right now."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ann opened the door and led the quaking girl
+across the upper corridor to the stairs, and they
+began to grope down the steps, Ann's revolver
+harshly scratching as it slid along the railing. The
+voices in the drawing-room, as they neared the door,
+grew more boisterous. There was a spasmodic and
+abortive effort at song on the part of Masters, a
+dash of a deck of playing-cards on the floor, angry
+swearing, and the calm remonstrance of the master
+of the house. Down the steps the two women went
+till the drawing-room door was passed. Then the
+veranda was gained, and the wide lawn and gravelled
+walks stretched out invitingly in the moonlight.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Thank God," Ann muttered, as if to herself.
+"Now come on, let's hustle out into the shelter of
+the woods."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Speeding down the walk, hand-in-hand, they
+passed through the gate and reached the road.
+"Slick as goose-grease," Ann chuckled. "Now we
+are plumb safe—as safe as we'd be anywhere in the
+world."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Drawing Virginia into the shadow of the trees
+bordering the road, she continued, more deliberately:
+"I could take you through the woods and across
+my meadows and fields, but it's a rough way at
+night, and it won't be necessary. We can take the
+main road and dodge out of the way if we hear anybody
+coming."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I'm not afraid now," Virginia sighed. "I'm
+not thinking about that. I'm only worried about
+what you think—what you think, Mrs. Boyd."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Never you mind what <em class="italics">I</em> think, child," Ann said,
+quietly. "God knows I never would blame you
+like other folks, for I know a thing or two about
+life. I've learned my lesson."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Virginia laid her hand firmly on Ann's strong
+one. "He promised me the money to have mother's
+operation performed. Oh, I couldn't let the chance
+escape, Mrs. Boyd—it meant so much to the poor
+woman. You have no idea what torture she is in.
+He wouldn't give it to me unless—unless I went all
+the way to his house for it. I hardly knew why,
+but—yes, I <em class="italics">knew</em>—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That's right," Ann broke in, "it won't do any
+good to tell a story about it. You knew what he
+wanted; any girl of your age with common-sense
+would know."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, I knew," Virginia confessed again, her head
+hanging, "but it was the only chance to get the
+money, and I thought I'd risk it. I <em class="italics">did</em> risk it, and
+have come away empty-handed. I'm safe, but my
+poor mother—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Put that woman out of it for one minute, for
+God's sake!" Ann hurled at her. "And right here
+I want it understood I didn't leave a warm bed
+to-night to do her a favor. I done it, that's all
+there is about it, but keep her out of it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"All right," the girl gave in. "I don't want to
+make you mad after what you have done, but I
+owe it to myself to show you that I was thinking
+only of her. I am not bad at heart, Mrs. Boyd. I
+wanted to save my mother's life."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And you never thought of yourself, poor child!"
+slipped impulsively from Ann's firm lips. "Yes,
+yes, I believe that."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I thought only of her, till I found myself locked
+there in his room and remembered what, in my
+excitement, I had promised him. I promised him,
+Mrs. Boyd, to make no outcry, and—and—" Virginia
+raised her hands to her face. "I promised,
+on my word of honor, to wait there till he came
+back. When you knocked on the door I thought
+it was he, and when you opened it and came in and
+stood above me, I thought it was all over. Instead,
+it was you, and—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And here we are out in the open air," Ann said,
+shifting the revolver to the other hand. She suddenly
+fixed her eyes on Virginia's thin-clad shoulders.
+"You didn't come here a cool night like this
+without something around you, did you?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, I—oh, I've left my shawl!" the girl cried.
+"He took it from me, and kept it. He said it
+was to bind me to my promise to stay till he got
+back."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"The scoundrel!—the wily scamp!" Ann muttered.
+"Well, there is only one thing about it, child. I'm
+going back after that shawl. I wouldn't leave a
+thing like that in the hands of a young devil beat
+in his game; he'd make use of it. You go on home.
+I'll get your shawl by some hook or crook. You
+run over to my house on the sly to-morrow morning
+and I'll give it back to you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But, Mrs. Boyd, I—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Do as I tell you," the elder woman commanded,
+"and see that you keep this thing from Jane Hemingway.
+I don't want her to know the part I've taken
+to-night. Seems to me I'd rather die. What I've
+done, I've done, but it isn't for her to know. I've
+helped her daughter out of trouble, but the fight is
+still on between me and her, and don't you forget
+it. Now, go on; don't stand there and argue
+with me. Go on, I tell you. What you standing
+there like a sign-post with the boards knocked
+off for? Go on home. I'm going back for that
+shawl."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Virginia hesitated for a moment, and then, without
+speaking again, and with her head hanging down,
+she turned homeward.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="xxii">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id23">XXII</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">As Ann Boyd reached the veranda, on
+her return to the house, loud and
+angry voices came from the parlor
+through an open window.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Blast you, I believe it <em class="italics">was</em> some
+woman," she heard Masters say in a maudlin tone,
+"and that's why you are so anxious to hurry us
+away. Oh, I'm onto you. George Wilson told
+me you were hanging round the girl you refused to
+introduce me to, and for all I know—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That's no business of yours," Chester retorted,
+in a tone of sudden fury. "I've stood this about
+as long as I'm going to, Masters, even if you are
+drunk and don't know what you are about. Peterkin,
+you'd better take your friend home; my house
+is not a bar-room, and my affairs are my own. I
+want that understood."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Look here, Masters," a new voice broke in, "you
+<em class="italics">are</em> going too far, and I'm not going to stand for it.
+Chester's right. When you are full you are the
+most unreasonable man alive. This is my turnout
+at the door—come on, or I'll leave you to walk to
+Springtown."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I'll go all right," threatened Masters, "but
+I am not done yet. I'll see you again, my boy.
+What they used to say in college is true; you won't
+tote fair. You are for number one every time, and
+would sacrifice a friend for your own interests at the
+drop of a hat."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Take him on, take him on!" cried Chester.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, I'm going all right!" growled Masters.
+"And I'm not drunk either. My judgment of you
+is sober-headed enough. You—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">They were coming through the hall to gain the
+door, and Ann quickly concealed herself behind one
+of the tall Corinthian columns that supported the
+massive, projecting roof of the veranda. She was
+standing well in the shadow when Masters, drawn
+forcibly by his friend, staggered limply out and
+down the steps. Langdon followed to the edge of
+the veranda, and stood there, frowning sullenly in
+the light from the window. He was pale and haggard,
+his lip quivering in the rage he was trying to
+control as he watched Peterkin half lifting and almost
+roughly shoving Masters into the vehicle.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"The puppy!" Ann heard him muttering. "I
+ought to have slapped his meddlesome mouth."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Several minutes passed. Ann scarcely dared to
+breathe freely, so close was she to the young planter.
+Masters was now in the buggy, leaning forward, his
+head lolling over the dashboard, and Peterkin was
+getting in beside him. The next moment the impatient
+horses had turned around and were off down
+the drive in a brisk trot.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, I ought to have kicked the meddling devil
+out and been done with it!" Ann heard Langdon
+say. "She, no doubt, has heard all the racket and
+been scared to death all this time, poor little thing!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Chester was on the point of turning into the hall
+when a step sounded at the corner of the house
+nearest the negro quarter, and a short, portly figure
+emerged into the light.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Marse Langdon, you dar?" a voice sounded.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, Aunt Maria." The young planter spoke
+with ill-disguised impatience. "What is it?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Nothin', Marse Langdon, 'cep' dem rapscallions
+kept me awake, an' I heard you stormin' out at um.
+I tol' yo' pa, Marse Langdon, ef dey was any mo'
+night carouses while he was gone I'd let 'im know,
+but I ain't gwine mention dis, kase I done see how
+hard you tried to oust dat low white trash widout
+a row. You acted de plumb gentleman, Marse
+Langdon. Is de anything I kin do fer you, Marse
+Langdon?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, Aunt Maria." Chester's tone betrayed impatience
+even with the consideration of the faithful
+servant. "No, I don't want a thing. I'm going
+to bed. I've got a headache. If any one should
+call to-night, which is not likely at this hour, send
+them away. I sha'n't get up."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ann was now fearful lest in turning he would discover
+her presence before the negro had withdrawn,
+and, seeing her opportunity while his attention was
+still on the road, from which the trotting of the departing
+horses came in a steady beat of hoofs, she
+noiselessly glided into the big hall through the open
+door and stood against a wall in the darkness.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Now, I reckon, they will let me alone!" she
+heard Chester say, as he came into the hall and
+turned into the parlor. The next instant he had
+blown out the tall prismed lamp, lowered a window,
+and come out to close and lock the front door.</p>
+<p class="pnext">His hand was on the big brass handle when, in a calm
+voice, Ann addressed him:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I want a word with you, Mr. Chester," she said,
+and she moved towards him, the revolver hanging
+at her side.</p>
+<p class="pnext">She heard him gasp, and he stood as if paralyzed
+in the moonbeams which fell through the open doorway
+and the side-lights of frosted glass.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Who are you?" he managed to articulate.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, you know me, I reckon, Mr. Chester. I'm
+Ann Boyd. I want to see you on a little private
+business, just between you and me, you know. It
+needn't go any further."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, Ann Boyd!" he exclaimed, and the thought
+ran through his bewildered brain that she had mistaken
+him for his father, and that he was accidentally
+running upon evidence of an intercourse between
+the two that he had thought was a thing of the
+past. "But, Mrs. Boyd," he said, "you've made
+a mistake. My father is away; he left for Savannah—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I didn't want to see your father," Ann snarled,
+angrily. "My business is with you, my fine young
+man, and nobody else."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Me?" he gasped, in growing surprise. "Me?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, you. I've come back for Virginia Hemingway's
+shawl. She says you kept it. Just between
+you and me," she went on, "I don't intend to
+leave a thing like that in the hands of a man of your
+stamp to hold over the poor girl and intimidate her
+with."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You say—you say—" He seemed unable to
+formulate expression for his abject astonishment,
+and he left the door and aimlessly moved to the
+railing of the stairs and stood facing her. His eyes
+now fell on the revolver in her hand, and the sight
+of it increased his wondering perturbation.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I said I wanted her shawl," Ann repeated, firmly,
+"and I don't see no reason why I should stand here
+all night to get it. You know what you did with it.
+Hand it to me!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Her shawl?" he muttered, still staring at her
+wide-eyed and bewildered, and wondering if this
+might not be some trap the vindictive recluse was
+setting for him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, I see," Ann laughed—"you think the poor,
+frail thing is still up there locked in that room; but
+she ain't. I saw her coming this way to-night, and,
+happening to know what you wanted her for, I
+come after her. You was busy with them galoots
+in the parlor, and I didn't care to bother you, so I
+went up and fetched her down without waiting to
+send in a card. She's in her bed by this time, poor
+little thing! And I come back for the shawl. I
+wasn't afraid of you, even without this gun that I
+found in your room. Thank God, the girl's as pure
+as she was the day she drew milk from her mother's
+breast, and I'll see to it that you won't never bother
+her again. This night you have sunk lower than
+man ever sunk—even them in your own family.
+You tried everything hell could invent, and when
+you failed you went to heaven for your bribes.
+You knew how she loved her wretched old hag of a
+mammy and what she wanted the money for. Some
+sensible folks argue that there isn't no such place
+as a hell. I tell you, Langdon Chester, there <em class="italics">is</em> one,
+and it's full to running over—packed to the brink—with
+your sort. For your own low and selfish
+gratification you'd consign that beautiful flower of
+a girl to a long life of misery. You dirty scamp,
+I'm a good mind to—Look here, get me that
+shawl! You'll make me mad in a minute." She
+suddenly advanced towards him, the revolver raised
+half threateningly, and he shrank back in alarm.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Don't, don't point that thing at me!" he cried.
+"I don't want trouble with you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, you get that shawl then, and be quick
+about it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">He put a foot on the lower step of the stairs.
+"It's up at the door of the room," he said, doggedly.
+"I dropped it there just for a joke. I was only
+teasing her. I—I know she's a good girl. She—she
+knew I was going to give it back to her. I was
+afraid she'd get frightened and run down before
+those men, and—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And your hellish cake would be dough!" Ann
+sneered. "Oh, I see, but that isn't getting the
+shawl."</p>
+<p class="pnext">He took another slow step, his eyes upon her
+face, and paused.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You are trying to make it out worse than it is,"
+he said, at the end of his resources. "I promised
+to give her the money, which I had locked in the
+desk in the library for safe-keeping, and asked her
+to come get it. She and I were on the steps when
+those men drove up. I begged her to run up-stairs
+to that room. I—I locked the door to—to keep
+them out more than for—for any other reason."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh yes, I know you did, Langdon Chester, and
+you took her shawl for the same reason and made
+the poor, helpless, scared thing agree to wait for you.
+A good scamp pleases me powerful, but you are too
+good a sample for any use. Get the shawl."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't want to be misunderstood," Chester said,
+in an all but conciliatory tone, as he took a slow,
+upward step.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, you bet there's no danger of me not understanding
+you," Ann sneered. "Get that shawl."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Without another word he groped up the dark
+steps. Ann heard him walking about on the floor
+above, striking matches and uttering exclamations
+of anger. Presently she heard him coming. When
+half-way down the stairs he paused and threw the
+shawl to her.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"There it is," he said, sullenly. "Leave my revolver
+on the steps."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ann caught the shawl, which, like some winged
+thing, swooped down through the darkness, and the
+next instant she had lowered the hammer of the
+revolver and laid it on the lowest step of the stairs.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"All right, it's an even swap," she chuckled—"your
+gun for our shawl. Now go to your bed and
+sleep on this. It's my opinion that, bad as you are,
+young man, I've done you a favor to-night."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"There's one thing I'll try to find out," he summoned
+up retaliatory courage to say, "and that is
+why you are bothering yourself so much about the
+daughter of a woman you are doing all you can to
+injure."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ann laughed from the door as she crossed the
+threshold, the shawl under her arm. "It will do
+you good to study on that problem," she said.
+"You find that out, and I'll pay you well for the
+answer. I don't know that myself."</p>
+<p class="pnext">From the window of his room above, Langdon
+watched her as she passed through the gate and disappeared
+on the lonely road.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"She won't tell it," he decided. "She'll keep
+quiet, unless it is her plan to hold it over Jane
+Hemingway. That may be it—and yet if that is
+so, why didn't she—wait?"</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="xxiii">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id24">XXIII</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">The sun had just risen the next morning,
+and its long, red streamers were
+kindling iridescent fires in the jewels
+of dew on the dying grass of the fields.
+White mists, like tenderly caressing
+clouds, hung along the rocky sides of the mountains.
+Ann Boyd, her eyes heavy from unwonted loss of
+sleep, was at the barn feeding her horses when she
+saw Virginia coming across the meadows. "She
+wants her shawl, poor thing!" Ann mused. "I'll
+go get it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">She went back into the house and brought it out
+just as the beautiful girl reached the barn-yard
+fence and stood there wordless, timid, and staring.
+"You see, I kept my word," the elder woman
+said, with an effort at a smile. "Here is your shawl."
+Virginia reached out for it. She said nothing,
+simply folding the shawl on her arm and staring
+into Ann's eyes with a woe-begone expression. She
+had lost her usual color, and there were black rings
+round her wonderful eyes that gave them more
+depth and seeming mystery than ever.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I hope your mother wasn't awake last night
+when you got back," Ann said.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, she wasn't—she was sound asleep," Virginia
+said, without change of expression. It was as
+if, in her utter depression, she had lost all individuality.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Then she don't know," Ann put in.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, she don't suspect, Mrs. Boyd. If she did,
+she'd die, and so would I."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I don't see as she is likely to know—<em class="italics">ever</em>,
+as long as she lives," Ann said, in a crude attempt
+at comfort-giving.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I fancied you'd <em class="italics">want</em> her to know," said the
+girl, looking at Ann frankly. "After I thought it
+over, I came to the conclusion that maybe you did
+it all so you could tell her. I see no other reason
+for—for you being so—so good to—to me."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I don't know as I've been good to anybody."
+Ann's color was rising in spite of her cold
+exterior. "But we won't talk about that. Though
+I'll tell you one thing, child, and that is that I'll
+never tell this to a living soul. Nobody but you
+and me an' that trifling scamp will ever know it.
+Now, will <em class="italics">that</em> do you any good? It's the same,
+you see, as if it had never really taken place."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But it <em class="italics">did</em> take place!" Virginia said, despondently.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh yes, but you don't know when you are in
+luck," Ann said, grimly. "In things like that a
+miss is as good as a mile. Study my life awhile,
+and you'll fall down on your knees and thank God
+for His mercy. Huh, child, don't be silly! I know
+when a young and good-looking girl that has gone
+a step too far is fortunate. Look here—changing
+the subject—I saw your mammy standing in the
+back door just now. Does she know you left the
+house?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, I came to look for the cow," said Virginia.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Then she don't suspicion where you are at,"
+said Ann. "Now, you see, she may have noticed
+that you walked off without a shawl, and you'd
+better not wear one home. Leave it with me and
+come over for it some time in the day when she
+won't miss you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I think I'd better take it back," Virginia replied.
+"She wears it herself sometimes and might miss it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, I see!" Ann's brows ran together reflectively.
+"Well, I'll tell you. Tote it under your arm
+till you get near the house, and then drop it somewhere
+in the weeds or behind the ash-hopper, and
+go out and get it when she ain't looking."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I'll do that, then," the girl said, wearily. "I
+was thinking, Mrs. Boyd, that not once last night
+did I remember to thank you for—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, don't thank <em class="italics">me</em>, child!" Had Ann been a
+close observer of her own idiosyncrasies, her unwary
+softness of tone and gentleness to a daughter of her
+sworn enemy would have surprised her. "Don't
+thank me," she repeated. "Thank God for letting
+you escape the lot of others just as young and
+unsuspecting as you ever were. I don't deserve
+credit for what I done last night. In fact, between
+you and me, I tried my level best not to interfere.
+Why I finally gave in I don't know, but I done it,
+and that's all there is to it. I done it. I got started
+and couldn't stop. But I want to talk to you.
+Come in the house a minute. It won't take long.
+Jane—your mother—will think the cow has strayed
+off, but there stands the cow in the edge of the
+swamp. Come on."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Dumbly, Virginia followed into the house and
+sank into a chair, holding her shapely hands in her
+lap, her wealth of golden-brown hair massed on her
+head and exquisite neck. Ann shambled in her
+untied, dew-wet shoes to the fireplace and poured
+out a cup of coffee from a tin pot on the coals.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Drink this," she said. "If what I hear is true,
+you don't get any too much to eat and drink over
+your way."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Virginia took it and sipped it daintily, but with
+evident relish.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I see you take to that," Ann said, unconscious
+of the genuine, motherly delight she was betraying.
+"Here, child, I'll tell you what I want you to do.
+These spiced sausages of mine, dry as powder in the
+corn-shuck, are the best and sweetest flavored that
+ever you stuck a tooth in. They fry in their own
+grease almost as soon as they hit a hot pan when
+they are sliced thin."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh no, I thank you," Virginia protested; "I
+really couldn't."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But I know you <em class="italics">can</em>," Ann insisted, as she cut
+down from a rafter overhead one of the sausages
+and deftly sliced it in a pan already hot on the coals.
+"You needn't tell me you ain't hungry. I can see
+it in your face. Besides, do you know it's a strange
+fact that a woman will eat just the same in trouble
+as out, while a man's appetite is gone the minute
+he's worried?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">The girl made no further protest, and Ann soon
+brought some hot slices of the aromatic food, with
+nicely browned toast, and placed them in a plate in
+her lap. "How funny all this seems!" Ann ran on.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Here I am feeding you up and feeling sorry for
+you when only last night I—well, I've got to talk
+to you, and I'm going to get it over with. I'll have
+to speak of the part of my life that has been the cud
+for every idle woman in these mountains to chaw
+on for many, many years, but I'm going to do it,
+so you will know better what you escaped last night;
+but, first of all, I want to ask you a straight question,
+and I don't mean no harm nor to be meddling where
+I have no business. I want to know if you love this
+Langdon Chester as—well, as you've always fancied
+you'd love the man you became a wife to."</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was a moment's hesitation on the part of
+the girl. Her cheeks took on color; she broke a
+bit of the sausage with her fork, but did not raise
+it to her lips.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I'm asking you a simple, plain question," Ann
+reminded her.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, I don't," Virginia answered, haltingly;—"that
+is, not now, not—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Ah, I see!" the old woman cried. "The feeling
+died just as soon as you saw straight down into
+his real nature, just as soon as you saw that he'd
+treat you like a slave, that he'd abuse you, beat you,
+lock you up, if necessary—in fact, do anything a
+brute would do to gain his aims."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I'm afraid, now, that I never really loved him,"
+Virginia said, a catch in her voice.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Humph!" Ann ejaculated. "I see. Then you
+went all the way over that lonely road to his house
+with just one thought in your mind, and that was
+to get that money for your mother."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"As God is my Judge, Mrs. Boyd, that's all I went
+for," Virginia said, her earnest eyes staring steadily
+at her companion.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I'm glad it was that way," Ann mused.
+"There was a time when I thought you were a
+silly girl whose head could easily be turned, but
+I've been hearing fine things about you, and I see
+you are made of good, solid, womanly stuff. Now,
+I want to tell you the whole truth, and then, if you
+want to consider me a friend and a well-wisher, all
+right. I'm no better-hearted than the average
+mortal woman. The truth is, Virginia Hemingway,
+I hate your mother as much as one human being
+can hate another this side of the bad place. She's
+been a thorn in my side the biggest part of my life.
+Away back when I was about your age, I got into
+just such a tight as you was in last night. For a
+long time afterwards I was nearly crazy, but when
+the prime cause of my trouble went off and married
+I begun to try to live again. I fell in love with a
+real good-natured, honest man. I wanted him to
+know the truth, but I never knew how to tell him,
+and so I kept holding off. He was a great beau
+among the girls of that day, making love to all of
+them, your mother among the rest. Finally, I give
+in. I couldn't resist his begging, my friends advised
+it, and me and him was married. That was
+the beginning of your mammy's enmity. It kept
+up, and when the truth about me finally leaked out
+she saw to it that my husband would not overlook
+the past—she saw to it that I was despised, kicked,
+and sneered at by the community—and my husband
+left with my only child. I sent up a daily prayer to
+be furnished with the means for revenge, but it
+didn't do any good, and then I got to begging the
+devil for what the Lord had refused. That seemed
+to work better, for one day a hint came to me that
+Langdon Chester was on your trail. That gave me
+the first glimpse of hope of solid revenge I'd had.
+I kept my eyes and ears open day and night. I saw
+your doom coming—I lived over what I'd been
+through, and the thought that you were to go
+through it was as sweet to me as honey in the comb.
+Finally the climax arrived. I saw you on the way
+to his house last night, and understood what it
+meant. I was squatting down behind a fence at
+the side of the road. I saw you pass, and followed
+you clean to the gate, and then turned back, at
+every step exulting over my triumph. The very
+sky overhead was ablaze with the fire of your fall
+to my level. But at my gate I was halted suddenly.
+Virginia—to go back a bit—there is a certain young
+man in this world that I reckon is the only human
+being that I love. I love him, I reckon, because he
+always seemed to love me, and believe me better
+than I am, and, more than that, he was the only
+person that ever pointed out a higher life to me. He
+was the poor boy that I educated, and who went off
+and done well, and has just come back to this
+country."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Luke King!" Virginia exclaimed, softly, and
+then she impulsively placed her hand on her lips
+and sat staring at the speaker, almost breathlessly
+alert.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, Luke King," said Ann, with feeling.
+"Strange to say, he has always said the day would
+come when I'd rise above hatred and revenge; he
+has learned some queer things in the West. Well,
+last night when I met him he said he'd come up to
+see his mother, who he heard was a little sick, but
+he finally admitted that her sickness wasn't all
+that fetched him. He said he was worried. He
+was more downhearted than I ever saw him before.
+Virginia Hemingway, he said he was worried about
+<em class="italics">you</em>."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"About <em class="italics">me</em>? Oh no," Virginia gasped.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, about you," Ann went on. "The poor
+fellow sat down on the door-step and laid bare his
+whole young heart to me. He'd loved you, he said,
+ever since you was a little girl. He'd taken your
+sweet face off with him on that long stay, and it
+had been with him constantly. It was on your
+account he yielded to the temptation to locate in
+Georgia again, and when he come back and saw
+you a full-grown woman he told me he felt that
+you and he were intended for one another. He said
+he knew your beautiful character. He said he'd
+been afraid to mention it to you, seeing you didn't
+feel the same way, and he thought it would be wiser
+to let it rest awhile; but then he learned that Langdon
+Chester was going with you, and he got worried.
+He was afraid that Langdon wouldn't tote
+fair with you. I may as well tell you the truth,
+Virginia. I never was so mad in all my life, for
+there I was right at that minute gloating over your
+ruin. I was feeling that way while he was telling
+me, with tears in his eyes and voice, that if—if
+harm came to a hair of your bonny head he'd kill
+Langdon Chester in cold blood, and go to the gallows
+with a smile on his lips. He didn't know
+anything wrong, he was just afraid—that was all,
+just afraid—and he begged me—just think of it,
+<em class="italics">me</em>, who was right then hot with joy over your
+plight—he begged me to see you some day soon
+and try to get you to care for him. I was so mad
+I couldn't speak, and he went off, his last word being
+that he knew I wouldn't fail him."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, Mrs. Boyd, I can't stand this!" Virginia
+bowed her head and began to sob. "He was always
+a good friend, but I never dreamed that he cared for
+me that way, and now he thinks that I—thinks
+that I—oh!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well," Ann went on, disregarding the interruption,
+"I was left to tussle with the biggest situation
+of my life. I tried to fight it. I laid down
+to sleep, but rolled and tossed, unable to close my
+eyes, till at last, as God is my Judge, something inside
+of me—a big and swelling something I'd never
+felt before—picked me up and made me go to that
+house. You know the rest. Instead of standing
+by in triumph and seeing the child of my enemy
+swept away by my fate, I was praying God to
+save her. I don't know what to make of my conduct,
+even now. Last night, when I come back to
+my house, I seemed all afire with feelings like none
+I ever had. As the Lord is my holy Guide, I felt
+like I wished I'd comforted you more—wished I'd
+taken you in my poor old arms there in the moonlight
+and held you to my breast, like I wish somebody
+had done me away back there before that
+dark chasm opened in front of me. I'm talking to
+you now as I never dreamt I could talk to a female,
+much less a daughter of Jane Hemingway; but I
+can't help it. You are Luke's chosen sweetheart,
+and to cast a slur on you for what took place last
+night would be to blight my own eternal chances of
+salvation; for, God bless your gentle little soul, you
+went there blinded by your mother's suffering, an
+excuse I couldn't make. No, there's just one thing
+about it. Luke is right. You are a good, noble
+girl, and you've had your cross to bear, and I want
+to see you get what I missed—a long, happy life of
+love and usefulness in this world. You will get it
+with Luke, for he is the grandest character I ever
+knew or heard about. I don't know but what right
+now it is his influence that's making me whirl about
+this odd way. I don't know what to make of it.
+As much as I hate your mother, I almost feel like
+I could let her stand and abuse me to my face and
+not talk back. Now, dry your eyes and finish that
+sausage. I reckon I hain't the virago and spitfire
+you've been taught to think I am. Most of us are
+better on the inside than out. Stop—stop now!
+crying won't do any good."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I can't help it," Virginia sobbed. "You are so
+good to me, and to think that it was from my mother
+that you got all your abuse."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, never mind about that," Ann said, laying
+her hand almost with shamefaced stealth on the
+girl's head and looking towards the swamp through
+the open door. "I see your cow is heading for home
+on her own accord. Follow her. This is our secret;
+nobody need know but us two. Your mammy
+would have you put in a house of detention if she
+knew it. Slip over and see me again when her
+back is turned. Lord, Lord, I wonder why I never
+thought about pitying you all along, instead of
+actually hating you for no fault of yours!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Virginia rose, put the plate on the table, and, with
+her face full of emotion, she impulsively put her
+arms around Ann's neck.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You are the best woman on earth," she said,
+huskily, "and I love you—I can't help it. I love
+you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, I reckon you don't do <em class="italics">that</em>," Ann said, coloring
+to the roots of her heavy hair. "That wouldn't
+be possible."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But I <em class="italics">do</em>, I tell you, I <em class="italics">do</em>," Virginia said again,
+"and I'll never do an unwomanly thing again in my
+life. But I don't want to meet Luke King again.
+I couldn't after what has happened."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, you let that take care of itself," Ann said,
+accompanying Virginia to the door.</p>
+<p class="pnext">She stood there, her red hands folded under her
+apron, and watched the girl move slowly across the
+meadow after the plodding cow.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What a pretty trick!" Ann mused. "And to
+think she'd actually put her arms round my old
+neck and hug me, and say she—oh, that was odd,
+very, very odd! I don't seem to be my own boss
+any longer."</p>
+<p class="pnext">An hour later, as she stood in her front porch
+cutting the dying vines from the strings which held
+them upward, she saw Mrs. Waycroft hastening
+along the road towards her. "There, I clean forgot
+that woman," Ann said, her brow wrinkled.
+"She's plumb full of what she heard that scamp
+saying to Virginia at the graveyard. I'll have to
+switch her off the track some way, the Lord only
+knows how, but off she goes, if I have to lie to my
+best friend till I'm black in the face."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I've been wanting to get over all morning," the
+visitor said, as she opened the gate and hurried in.
+"I had my breakfast two hours ago, but Sally Hinds
+and her two children dropped in and detained me.
+They pretended they wanted to talk about the next
+preaching, but it was really to get something to eat.
+The littlest one actually sopped the gravy from the
+frying-pan with a piece of bread-crust. I wanted
+to slip out last night and come over here to watch
+the road to see if Virginia Hemingway kept her
+promise, but just about that hour Jim Dilk—he
+lives in my yard, you know—he had a spasm, and
+we all thought he was going to die."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I reckon," Ann said, carelessly, as she
+pulled at a rotten piece of twine supporting a dead
+vine, and broke it from its nail under the eaves of
+the porch—"I reckon you'd 'a' had your trip for
+nothing, and maybe feel as sneaking about it as I
+confess I do."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Sneaking?" echoed Mrs. Waycroft.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, the truth is, I was mean enough, Mary, to
+hold watch on the road in that chill night air, and
+got nothing but a twitch of rheumatism in my leg
+as a reward. The truth is, Virginia Hemingway is
+all right. She wanted that money bad enough, but
+it was just on old Jane's account, and she wasn't
+going to be led into sech a trap as that. I reckon
+Langdon Chester was doing most of the talking when
+you saw them together. She may be flirting a
+little with him, as most any natural young girl
+would, but, just between me 'n' you—now, see that
+this goes no further, Mary—there is a big, big case
+up between Virginia and Luke King."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You <em class="italics">don't say</em>! How did you drop onto that?"
+gasped Mrs. Waycroft.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I don't feel at liberty exactly to tell how
+I got onto it," Ann said, pulling at another piece
+of twine; "but it will get out before long. Luke
+has been in love with her ever since she wore short
+dresses."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Huh, that <em class="italics">is</em> a surprise!" said Mrs. Waycroft.
+"Well, she is fortunate, Ann. He's a fine young
+man."</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="xxiv">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id25">XXIV</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">Towards sunset that afternoon, as Ann
+was returning from her cotton-house,
+she came upon Virginia in a thicket
+on the roadside picking up pieces of
+fallen tree-branches for fire-wood. Ann
+had approached from the rear, and Virginia was
+unaware of her nearness. To the old woman's surprise,
+the girl's eyes were red from weeping, and
+there was a droop of utter despondency on her as
+she moved about, her apron full of sticks, her
+glance on the ground. Ann hesitated for a minute,
+and then stepped across the stunted grass and
+touched her on the arm.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What's the matter <em class="italics">now</em>, child?" she asked.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The girl turned suddenly and flushed to the roots
+of her hair, but she made no response.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What's gone wrong?" Ann pursued, anxiously.
+"Don't tell me your mother has found out
+about—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh no, it's not that," Virginia said, wiping her
+eyes with her disengaged hand. "It's not that.
+I'm just miserable, Mrs. Boyd, that's all—thoroughly
+miserable. You mustn't think I'm like this all the
+time, for I'm not. I've been cheerful at home all
+day—as cheerful as I could be under the circumstances;
+but, being alone out here for the first time,
+I got to thinking about my mother, and the sadness
+of it all was too much for me."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"She hain't worse, is she?" Ann asked.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Not that anybody could see, Mrs. Boyd," the
+girl replied; "but the cancer must be worse. Two
+doctors from Springtown, who were riding by,
+stopped to ask for a drink of water, and my uncle
+told them about mother's trouble. It looked like
+they just wanted to see it out of professional curiosity,
+for when they heard we had no money and were
+deeply in debt they didn't offer any advice. But
+they looked very much surprised when they made
+an examination, and it was plain that they didn't
+think she had much chance. My mother was watching
+their faces, and knew what they thought, and
+when they had gone away she fairly collapsed. I
+never heard such pitiful moaning in all my life.
+She is more afraid of death than any one I ever saw,
+and she just threw herself on her bed and prayed for
+mercy. Oh, it was awful! awful! Then my uncle
+came in and said the doctors had said the specialist
+in Atlanta could really cure her, if she had the
+means to get the treatment, and that made her
+more desperate. From praying she turned almost
+to cursing in despair. My uncle is usually indifferent
+about most matters, but the whole thing almost
+made him sick. He went out to the side of the
+house to keep from hearing her cries. Some of his
+friends came along the road and joked with him, but
+he never spoke to them. He told me there was
+a young doctor at Darley who was willing to
+operate on her, but that he would be doing it
+only as an experiment, and that nobody but
+the Atlanta specialist would be safe in such a
+case."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And the cost, if I understood right," said Ann—"the
+cost, first and last, would foot up to about a
+hundred dollars."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, that's what it would take," Virginia sighed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ann's brow was furrowed; her eyes flashed reminiscently.
+"She ought to have been laying by something
+all along," she said, "instead of making it
+her life business to harass and pull down a person
+that never did her no harm."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Don't say anything against her!" Virginia flared
+up. "If you do, I shall be sorry I said what I did
+this morning. You have been kind to me, but not
+to her, and she is my mother, who is now lying at
+the point of death begging for help that never will
+come."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ann stared steadily, and then her lashes began to
+flicker. "I don't know but I think more of you for
+giving me that whack, my girl," she said, simply.
+"I deserve it. I've got no right on earth to abuse
+a mother to her only child, much less a mother in
+the fix yours is in. No, I went too far, my child.
+You are not in the fight between me and her."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You ought to be ashamed to be in it, when she's
+down," said Virginia, warmly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I <em class="italics">am</em>," Ann admitted. "I <em class="italics">am</em>. Come on
+to my gate with me. I want to talk to you. There
+is a lot of loose wood lying about up there, and you
+are welcome to all you pick up; so you won't be
+losing time."</p>
+<p class="pnext">With her apron drawn close up under her shapely
+chin, her eyes still red and her cheeks damp, Virginia
+obeyed. If she had been watching her companion
+closely, she might have wondered over the strange
+expression of Ann's face. Now and then, as she
+trudged along, kicking up the back part of her heavy
+linsey skirt in her sturdy strides, a shudder would
+pass over her and a weighty sigh of indecision escape
+her big chest.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"To think this would come to me!" she muttered
+once. "<em class="italics">Me!</em> God knows it looks like my work
+t'other night was far enough out of my regular
+track without—huh!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Reaching the gate, she told Virginia to wait a
+minute at the fence till she went into the house.
+She was gone several minutes, during which time
+the wondering girl heard her moving about within;
+then she appeared in the doorway, almost pale, a
+frown on her strong face.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Look here, child," she said, coming out and
+leaning her big, bare elbows on the top rail of the
+fence, "I've thought this all over and over till my
+head spins like a top, and I can see but one way for
+your mother to get out of her trouble. I'm the
+greatest believer you ever run across of every human
+being doing his or her <em class="italics">full</em> duty in every case. Now,
+strange as it may sound, I left my home last night
+and deliberately made it my special business to step
+in between you and the only chance of getting the
+money your mother stands in need of. I thought
+I was doing what was right, and I still believe I was,
+as far as it went, but I was on the point of making
+a botched job of it. I'd get mighty few thanks, I
+reckon, for saving you from the clutches of that
+scamp if I left your mother to die in torment of
+body and soul. So, as I say, there ain't but one
+way out of it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ann paused; she was holding something tightly
+clasped in her hand, and not looking at Virginia.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I'm sure I don't know what you mean," the girl
+said, wonderingly. "If you see any way out, it is
+more than I can."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, your mother's got to go to Atlanta," Ann
+said, sheepishly; "and, as I see it, there isn't but
+one person whose duty it is to put up the cash for
+it, <em class="italics">and that person is me</em>."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You? Oh no, Mrs. Boyd!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But I know better, child. The duty has come
+on me like a load of bricks dumped from a wagon.
+The whole thing has driven me slap-dab in a corner.
+I know when I'm whipped—that's one of the things
+that has helped me along in a moneyed way in this
+life—it was always knowing when to let up. I've
+got to wave the white flag in this battle till my
+enemy's on her feet, then the war may go on.
+But"—Ann opened her hand and displayed the
+bills she was holding—"take this money home with
+you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, Mrs. Boyd, I couldn't think of—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, don't think about it; take it on, and don't
+argue with a woman older than you are, and who
+knows better when and how a thing has to be
+done."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Most reluctantly Virginia allowed Ann to press
+the money into her unwilling hand. "But remember
+this," Ann said, firmly: "Jane Hemingway
+must never know where you got it—never! Do
+you understand? It looks like I can stand most
+anything better than letting that woman know I
+put up money on this; besides, bad off as she is,
+she'd peg out before she'd let me help her."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Virginia's face was now aflame with joy. "I tell
+you what I'll do," she said. "I'll accept it as a
+loan, and I'll pay it back some day if I have to
+work my hands to the bone."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, you can do as you like about that," Ann
+said. "The only thing I absolutely insist on is
+that she isn't told who sent it. It wouldn't be hard
+to keep her in the dark; if you'll promise me right
+here, on your word, not to tell, then you can say you
+gave your sacred promise to that effect, and that
+would settle it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I'll do that," Virginia finally agreed. "I
+know I can do that."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"All right," Ann said. "It may set the old
+thing to guessing powerful, and she may bore you
+to tell, promise or no promise, but she'll never
+suspicion <em class="italics">me</em>—never while the sun shines from the
+sky."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, she won't suspect you," Virginia admitted,
+and with a grateful, backward look she moved
+away.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ann stood leaning against the fence, her eyes on
+the receding figure as the girl moved along the sunlit
+road towards the dun cottage in the shadow of
+the mountain.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I reckon I'm a born idiot," she said; "but there
+wasn't no other way out of it—no other under the
+sun. I got my foot in it when I laid in wait watching
+for the girl to walk into that trap. If I hadn't
+been so eager for that, I could have left Jane Hemingway
+to her fate. Good Lord, if this goes on,
+I'll soon be bowing and scraping at that old hag's
+feet—<em class="italics">me!</em> huh! when it's been <em class="italics">her</em> all this time that
+has been at the bottom of the devilment."</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="xxv">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id26">XXV</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">During this talk Jane Hemingway
+had gone out to the fence to speak to
+Dr. Evans, who had passed along the
+road, a side of bacon on his left shoulder,
+and she came back, and with a
+low groan sat down. Sam Hemingway, who sat
+near the fire, shrugged his shoulders and sniffed.
+"You are making too much of a hullabaloo over it,"
+he said. "I've been thinking about the matter a
+lots, and I've come to the final conclusion that
+you are going it entirely too heavy, considering the
+balance of us. Every man, woman, and child, born
+and unborn, is predestinated to die, and them that
+meet their fate graceful-like are the right sort.
+Seeing you takin' on after them doctors left actually
+turned <em class="italics">me</em> sick at the stomach, and that ain't
+right. I'll be sick enough when my own time comes,
+I reckon, without having to go through separate
+spells for all my kin by marriage every time they
+have a little eruption break out on them. Then
+here's Virginia having her bright young life blighted
+when it ought to be all sunshine and roses, if I may
+be allowed to quote the poets. I'll bet when you
+was a young girl your cheeks wasn't kept wet as
+a dish-rag by a complaining mother. No, what
+you've got to do, Sister Jane, is to pucker up courage
+and face the music—be resigned."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Resigned! I say, resigned!" was the rebellious
+reply—"I say, resigned! with a slow thing like this
+eating away at my vitals and nothing under high
+heaven to make it let go. You can talk, sitting
+there with a pipe in your mouth, and every limb
+sound, and a long life ahead of you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But you are openly disobeying Biblical injunction,"
+said Sam, knocking his exhausted pipe on
+the heel of his shoe. "You are kicking agin the
+pricks. All of us have to die, and you are raising
+a racket because your turn is somewhere in sight.
+You are kicking agin something that's as natural
+as a child coming into the world. Besides, you are
+going back on what you preach. You are eternally
+telling folks there's a life in front of us that beats
+this one all hollow, and, now that Providence has
+really blessed you by giving you a chance to sorter
+peep ahead at the pearly gates, you are actually
+balking worse than a mean mule. I say you ought
+to give me and Virginia a rest. If you can't possibly
+raise the scads to pay for having the thing cut
+out, then pucker up and grin and bear it. Folks
+will think a sight more of you. Being a baby at
+both ends of life is foolish—there ain't nobody
+willing to do the nursing the second time."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I want you to hush all that drivel, Sam," the
+widow retorted. "I reckon folks are different.
+Some are born with a natural dread of death, and
+it was always in my family. I stood over my mother
+and watched her breathe her last, and it went awfully
+hard with her. She begged and begged for
+somebody to save her, even sitting up in bed while
+all the neighbors were crouched about crying and
+praying, and yelled out to them to stop that and do
+something. We'd called in every doctor for forty
+miles about, and she had somehow heard of a young
+one away off, and she was calling out his name when
+she fell back and died."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, she must have had some load on her mind
+that she wasn't ready to dump at the throne," said
+Sam, without a hint of humor in his drawling voice.
+"I've always understood your folks, in the woman
+line at least, was unforgiving. They say forgiveness
+is the softest pillow to expire on. I dunno,
+I've never tried it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I'm miserable, simply miserable!" groaned Jane.
+"Dr. Evans has just been to Darley. He promised
+to see if any of my old friends would lend me the
+money, but he says nobody had a cent to spare."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Folks never have cash for an investment of that
+sort," answered Sam. "I fetched up your case to
+old Milward Dedham at the store the other day.
+He'd just sold five thousand acres of wild mountain
+land to a Boston man for the timber that was
+on it, and was puffed up powerful. I thought if
+ever a man would be prepared to help a friend he
+would. 'La me, Sam,' said he, 'you are wasting
+time trying to keep a woman from pegging out
+when wheat's off ten cents a bushel. Any woman
+ought to be happy lying in a grave that is paid
+for sech times as these.'"</p>
+<p class="pnext">The widow was really not listening to Sam's talk.
+With her bony elbows on her knee, her hand intuitively
+resting on the painless and yet insistent
+seat of her trouble, she rocked back and forth, sighing
+and moaning. There was a clicking of the gate-latch,
+a step on the gravelled walk, and Virginia,
+flushed from exercise in the cool air, came in and
+emptied her apron in the chimney corner, from which
+her uncle lazily dragged his feet. He leaned forward
+and critically scanned the heap of wood.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You've got some good, rich, kindling pine there,
+Virginia," he drawled out. "But you needn't
+bother after to-day, though. I'll have my wagon
+back from the shop to-morrow, and Simpson has
+promised to lend me his yoke of oxen, and let me
+haul some logs from his hill. Most of it is good,
+seasoned red oak, and when it gets started to burning
+it pops like a pack of fire-crackers."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Virginia said nothing. Save for the firelight,
+which was a red glow from live coals, rather than
+any sort of flame, the big room was dark, and her
+mother took no notice of her, but Sam had his
+eyes on her over his left shoulder.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Your mother has been keeping up the same old
+song and dance," he said, dryly; "so much so
+that she's clean forgot living folks want to eat at
+stated times. I reckon you'll have to make the
+bread and fry what bacon is left on that strip of
+skin."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Virginia said nothing to him, for her glance was
+steadily resting on her mother's despondent form.
+"Mother," she said, in a faltering, almost frightened
+tone, for she had been accustomed to no sort of
+deception in her life, and the part she was to play
+was a most repellent one—"mother, I've got something
+to tell you, and I hardly know how to do it.
+Down the road just a while ago I met a friend—a
+person who told me—the person told me—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, what did the person tell you?" Sam asked,
+as both he and the bowed wreck at the fire stared
+through the red glow.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"The person wants to help you out of trouble,
+mother, and gave me the hundred dollars you need.
+Before I got it I had to give my sacred word of
+honor that I'd never let even you know who sent
+it. I hardly knew what to do, but I thought perhaps
+I ought to—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What? You mean—oh, Virginia, you don't
+mean—" Jane began, as she rose stiffly, her scrawny
+hand on the mantel-piece, and took a step towards
+her almost shrinking daughter.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Here's the money, mother," Virginia said, holding
+out the roll of bills, now damp and packed close
+together by her warm, tense fingers. "That's all
+I am allowed to tell you. I had to promise not to
+let you know who sent it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">As if electrified from death to life, Jane Hemingway
+sprang forward and took the money into her
+quivering fingers. "A light, Sam!" she cried.
+"Make a light, and let me see. If the child's plumb
+crazy I want to know it, and have it over with.
+Oh, my Lord! Don't fool me, Virginia. Don't
+raise my hopes with any trick anybody wants to
+play."</p>
+<p class="pnext">With far more activity than was his by birth,
+Sam stood up, secured a tallow candle from the
+mantel-piece, and bent over the coals.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Crazy?" he said. "I <em class="italics">know</em> the girl's crazy, if
+she says there's any human being left on the earth
+after Noah's flood who gives away money without
+taking a receipt for it—to say nothing of a double,
+iron-clad mortgage."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It looks and feels like money!" panted the widow.
+"Hurry up with the light. I wonder if my
+prayer has been heard at last."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Hearing it and answering are two different
+things; the whole neighborhood has <em class="italics">heard</em> it often
+enough," growled Sam, as he fumed impatiently
+over the hot coals, fairly hidden in a stifling cloud
+of tallow-smoke.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Here's a match," said Virginia, who had found
+one near the clock, and she struck it on the top of
+one of the dog-irons, and applied it to the dripping
+wick. At the same instant the hot tallow in the
+coals and ashes burst into flame, lighting up every
+corner and crevice of the great, ill-furnished room.
+Sam, holding the candle, bent over Jane's hands
+as they nervously fumbled the money.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Ten-dollar bills!" she cried. "Oh, count 'em,
+Sam! I can't. They stick together, she's wadded
+'em so tight."</p>
+<p class="pnext">With almost painful deliberation Sam counted
+the money, licking his rough thumb as he raised
+each bill.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It's a hundred dollars all right enough," he
+said, turning the roll over to his sister-in-law.
+"The only thing that's worrying me is who's had
+sech a sudden enlargement of the heart in this
+section."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Virginia, who gave you this money?" Mrs.
+Hemingway asked, her face abeam, her eyes gleaming
+with joy.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I told you I was bound by a promise not to tell
+you or anybody else," Virginia awkwardly replied,
+as she avoided their combined stare.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, I smell a great big dead rat under the barn!"
+Sam laughed. "I'd bet my Sunday-go-to-meeting
+hat I know who sent it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You do?" exclaimed the widow. "Who do you
+think it was, Sam?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, the only chap around about here that
+seems to have wads of cash to throw at cats," Sam
+laughed. "He pitched one solid roll amounting to
+ten thousand at his starving family awhile back.
+Of course, he did this, too. He always <em class="italics">did</em> have
+a hankering for Virginia, anyway. Hain't I seen
+them two—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"He didn't send it!" Virginia said, impulsively.
+"There! I didn't intend to set you guessing, and
+after this I'll never answer one way or the other.
+I didn't know whether I ought to take it on those
+conditions or not, but I couldn't see mother suffering
+when this would help her so much."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, God knows I'm glad you took it," said Jane,
+slowly, "even if I'm never to know. I'm sure it was
+a friend, for nobody but a friend would care that
+much to help me out of trouble."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You bet it was a friend," said Sam, "unless it
+was some thief trying to get rid of some marked
+bills he's hooked some'r's. Now, Virginia, for the
+love of the Lord, get something ready to eat.
+For a family with a hundred dollars in hand,
+we are the nighest starvation of any I ever heard
+of."</p>
+<p class="pnext">While the girl was busy preparing the cornmeal
+dough in a wooden bread-tray, her mother walked
+about excitedly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I'll go to Darley in the hack in the morning,"
+she said, "and right on to Atlanta on the evening
+train. I feel better already. Dr. Evans says I
+won't suffer a particle of pain, and will come back
+weighing more and with a better appetite."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I believe I'd not put myself out to improve
+on mine," said Sam, "unless this person who
+is so flush with boodle wants to keep up the good
+work. Dern if I don't believe I'll grow <em class="italics">me</em> a cancer,
+and talk about it till folks pay me to hush."</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="xxvi">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id27">XXVI</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">It was one fairly warm evening, three
+days after Jane had left for Atlanta.
+Virginia had given Sam his supper,
+and he had strolled off down to the
+store with his pipe. Then, with a
+light shawl over her shoulders, the girl sat in the
+bright moonlight on the porch. She had not been
+there long when she saw a man on a horse in the
+road reining in at the gate. Even before he dismounted
+she had recognized him. It was Luke
+King. Hardly knowing why she did so, she sprang
+up and was on the point of disappearing in the
+house, when, in a calm voice, he called out to her:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Wait, Virginia! Don't run. I have a message
+for you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"For me?" she faltered, and with unaccountable
+misgivings she stood still.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Throwing the bridle-rein over the gate-post, he
+entered the yard and came towards her, his big
+felt-hat held easily in his hand, his fine head showing
+to wonderful advantage in the moonlight.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You started to run," he laughed. "You needn't
+deny it. I saw you, and you knew who it was, too.
+Just think of my little friend dodging whenever she
+sees me. Well, I can't help that. It must be natural.
+You were always timid with me, Virginia."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Won't you come in and have a chair?" she returned.
+"Mother has gone away to Atlanta, and
+there is no one at home but my uncle and me."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I knew she was down there," King said, feasting
+his hungry and yet gentle and all-seeing eyes on
+her. "That's what I stopped to speak to you
+about. She sent you a message."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, you saw her, then!" Virginia said, more at
+ease.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, I happened to be at the big Union car-shed
+when her train came in, and saw her in the crowd.
+The poor woman didn't know which way to turn,
+and I really believe she was afraid she'd get lost
+or stolen, or something as bad. When she saw me
+she gave a glad scream and fairly tumbled into my
+arms. She told me where she wanted to go, and I
+got a cab and saw her safe to the doctor's."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, that was very good of you!" Virginia said.
+"I'm so glad you met her."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"She was in splendid spirits, too, when I last
+saw her," King went on. "I dropped in there this
+morning before I left, so that I could bring you the
+latest news. She was very jolly, laughing and joking
+about everything. The doctor had not had
+time to make an examination, but he has a way of
+causing his patients to look on the bright side.
+He told her she had nothing really serious to fear,
+and it took a big load off her mind."</p>
+<p class="pnext">They were now in the house, and Virginia had
+lighted a candle and he had taken a seat near the
+open door.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Doctors have a way of pretending to be cheerful,
+even before very serious operations, haven't
+they?" she asked, as she sat down not far from
+him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">She saw him hesitate, as if in consideration of
+her feelings, and then he said, "Yes, I believe that,
+too, Virginia; still, he is a wonderful man, and if
+any one can do your mother good he can."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"If <em class="italics">anybody</em> can?—yes," she sighed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You mustn't get blue," he said, consolingly;
+"and yet how can you well help it, here almost by
+yourself, with your mother away under such sad
+circumstances?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Your own mother was not quite well recently,"
+Virginia said, considerately. "I hope she is no
+worse."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, she's on her feet again," he laughed, "as
+lively as a cricket, moving about bossing that big
+place."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, I thought, seeing you back so—so soon,"
+the girl stammered; "I thought that you had perhaps
+heard—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That she was sick again? Oh no!" he exclaimed,
+and then he saw her drift and paused, and,
+flushed and embarrassed, sat staring at the floor.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You didn't—surely you didn't come all the way
+here to—to tell me about my mother!" Virginia
+cried, "when you have important work to do down
+there?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was a moment's hesitation on his part;
+then he raised his head and looked frankly into her
+eyes.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What's the use of denying it?" he said. "I
+don't believe in deception, even in small things. It
+never does any good. I <em class="italics">did</em> have work to do down
+there, but I couldn't go on with it, Virginia, while
+you were here brooding as you are over your
+mother's condition. So I stayed at my desk till
+the north-bound train was ready to pull out. Then
+I made a break for it, catching the last car as it
+whizzed past the crossing near the office. The
+train was delayed on the way up, and after I got
+to Darley I was afraid I couldn't get a horse at the
+stable and get here before you were in bed; but you
+see I made it. Sam Hicks will blow me up about
+the lather his mare is in. I haven't long to stay
+here, either, for I must get back to Darley to catch
+the ten-forty. I'll reach the office about four in
+the morning, if I can get the conductor to slow up
+in the Atlanta switch-yard for me to hop off at the
+crossing."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And you did all that simply to tell me about my
+mother?" Virginia said. "Why, she could have
+written."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, but seeing some one right from the spot is
+more satisfying," he said, with embarrassed lightness.
+"I wanted to tell you how she was, and I'm
+glad, whether you are or not."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I'm glad to hear from her," said Virginia. "It
+is only because I did not want to put you to so
+much trouble."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Don't bother about that, Virginia. I'd gladly
+do it every night in the week to keep you from
+worrying. Do you remember the day, long ago,
+that I came to you down at the creek and told you
+I was dissatisfied with things here, and was going
+away off to begin the battle of life in earnest?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, I remember," Virginia answered, almost
+oblivious of the clinging, invisible current which
+seemed to be sweeping them together.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He drew a deep breath, as if to take in courage for
+what he had to say, and then went on:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You were only a little girl then, hardly thirteen,
+and yet to me, Virginia, you were a woman capable
+of the deepest feeling. I never shall forget how you
+rebuked me about leaving my mother in anger. You
+looked at me as straight and frank as starbeams,
+and told me you'd not desert your mother in her
+old age for all the world. I never forgot what you
+said and just the way you said it, and through all
+my turbulent life out West your lecture was constantly
+before me. I was angry at my mother, but
+finally I got to looking at her marriage differently,
+and then I began to want to see her and to do my
+filial duty as you were doing yours. That was
+one reason I came back here. The other was because—Virginia,
+it was because I wanted to see
+<em class="italics">you</em>."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, don't, don't begin—" but Virginia's protest
+died away in her pulsing throat. She lowered
+her head and covered her hot face with her hands.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But I have begun, and I must go on," he said.
+"Out West I met hundreds of attractive women,
+but I could never look upon them as other men did
+because of the—the picture of you stamped on my
+brain. I was not hearing a word about you, but
+you were becoming exactly what I knew you would
+become; and when I saw you out there in the barn-yard
+that first day after I got back, my whole being
+caught fire, and it's blazing yet—it will blaze as
+long as there is a breath of my life left to fan it.
+For me there can be but one wife, little girl,
+and if she fails me I'll go unmarried to my
+grave."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, don't! don't!" Virginia sobbed, her tones
+muffled by her hands pressed tightly over her face.
+"You don't know me. I'm not what you think I
+am. I'm only a poor, helpless, troubled—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Don't! don't!" he broke in, fearfully—"don't decide
+against me hastily! I know—God knows I
+am unworthy of you, and if you don't feel as I do
+you will never link your young life to mine. Sometimes
+I fear that your shrinking from me as you
+often do is evidence against my hopes. Oh, dear,
+little girl, am I a fool? Am I a crazy idiot asking
+you for what you can't possibly give?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">A sob which she was trying to suppress shook her
+from head to foot, and she rose and stepped to the
+door and stood there looking out on the moonlit road,
+where his impatient horse was pawing the earth
+and neighing. There was silence. King leaned forward,
+his elbows on his knees, his strong fingers
+locked like prongs of steel in front of him, his face
+deep cut with the chisel of anxiety. For several
+minutes he stared thus at her white profile struck
+into sharp clearness by the combined light from
+without and within.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I see it all," he groaned. "I've lost. While I
+was away out there treasuring your memory and
+seeing your face night after night, day after day—holding
+you close, pulling these rugged old mountains
+about you for protection, you were not—you
+were not—I was simply not in your thoughts."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Then she turned towards him. She seemed to
+have grown older and stronger since he began speaking
+so earnestly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You must not think of me that way any longer,"
+she sighed. "You mustn't neglect your work to
+come to see me, either."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You will never be my wife, then, Virginia?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, I could never be that, Luke—no, not that—never
+on earth."</p>
+<p class="pnext">He shrank together as if in sudden, sharp physical
+pain, and then he rose to his full height and reached
+for his hat, which she had placed on the table. His
+heavy-soled boots creaked on the rough floor; he
+tipped his chair over, and it would have fallen had
+he not awkwardly caught it and restored it to its
+place.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You have a good reason, I am sure of that,"
+he said, huskily.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, yes, I—I have a reason." Her stiff lips
+made answer. "We are not for each other, Luke.
+If you've been thinking so, so long, as you say, it
+is because you were trying to make me fit your
+ideal, but I am not that in reality. I tell you I'm
+only a poor, suffering girl, full of faults and
+weaknesses, at times not knowing which way to
+turn."</p>
+<p class="pnext">He had reached the door, and he stepped out into
+the moonlight, his massive head still bare. He
+shook back his heavy hair in a determined gesture
+of supreme faith and denial and said: "I know you
+better than you know yourself, because I know better
+than you do how to compare you to other women.
+I want you, Virginia, just as you are, with
+every sweet fault about you. I want you with a
+soul that actually bleeds for you, but you say it
+must not be, and you know best."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, it can't possibly be," Virginia said, almost
+fiercely. "It can never be while life lasts. You
+and I are as wide apart as the farthest ends of the
+earth."</p>
+<p class="pnext">He bowed his head and stood silent for a moment,
+then he sighed as he looked at her again. "I've
+thought about life a good deal, Virginia," he said,
+"and I've almost come to the conclusion that a
+great tragedy must tear the soul of every person
+destined for spiritual growth. This may be my
+tragedy, Virginia; I know something of the tragedy
+that lifted Ann Boyd to the skies, but her neighbors
+don't see it. They are still beating the material
+husk from which her big soul has risen."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I know what she is," Virginia declared. "I'm
+happy to be one who knows her as she is—the
+grandest woman in the world."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I'm glad to hear you say that," King said. "I
+knew if anybody did her justice it would be you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"If I don't know how to sympathize with her, no
+one does," said the girl, with a bitterness of tone he
+could not fathom. "She's wonderful; she's glorious.
+It would be worth while to suffer anything
+to reach what she has reached."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I didn't come to talk of her, good as she
+has been to me," King said, gloomily. "I must
+get back to the grind and whir of that big building.
+I shall not come up again for some time. I have an
+idea I know what your reason is, but it would drive
+me crazy even to think about it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">She started suddenly, and then stared steadily at
+him. In the white moonlight she looked like a
+drooping figure carved out of stone, even to every
+fold of her simple dress and wave of her glorious
+hair.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You think you know!" she whispered.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, I think so, and the pronunciation of a single
+name would prove it, but I shall not let it pass my
+lips to-night. It's my tragedy, Virginia."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And mine," she said to herself, but to him it
+seemed that she made no response at all, and after
+a moment's pause he turned away.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Good-bye," he said, from the gate.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Good-bye, Luke," she said, impulsively.</p>
+<p class="pnext">But at the sound of his name he whirled and came
+back, his brow dyed with red, his tender eyes flashing.
+"I'll tell you one other thing, and then I'll
+go," he said, tremulously. "Out West, one night,
+after a big ball which had bored the life out of me—in
+fact, I had only gone because it was a coming-out
+affair of the daughter of a wealthy friend of mine.
+In the smoking-room of the big hotel which had
+been rented for the occasion I had a long talk with
+a middle-aged bachelor, a man of the world, whom
+I knew well. He told me his story. In his younger
+days he had been in love with a girl back East,
+and his love was returned, but he wanted to see
+more of life and the world, and was not ready to
+settle down, and so he left her. After years spent
+in an exciting business and social life, and never
+meeting any one else that he could care for, a sudden
+longing came over him to hear from his old
+sweetheart. He had no sooner thought of it than
+his old desires came back like a storm, and he could
+not even wait to hear from her. He packed up
+hastily, took the train, and went back home. He
+got to the village only two days after she had married
+another man. The poor old chap almost cried
+when he told me about it. Then, in my sympathy
+for him, I told him of my feeling for a little girl back
+here, and he earnestly begged me not to wait another
+day. It was that talk with him that helped
+me to make up my mind to come home. But, you
+see, I am too late, as he was too late. Poor old
+Duncan! He'd dislike to hear of my failure. But
+I've lost out, too. Now, I'll go sure. Good-bye,
+Virginia. I hope you will be happy. I'm going to
+pray for that."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Leaning against the door-jamb, she saw him pass
+through the gateway, unhitch his restive horse, and
+swing himself heavily into the saddle, still holding
+his hat in his hand. Then he galloped away—away
+in the still moonlight, the—to her—peaceful,
+mocking moonlight.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"He thinks he knows," she muttered, "but he
+doesn't dream the <em class="italics">whole</em> truth. If he did he would
+no longer think that way of me. What am I, anyway?
+He was loving me with that great, infinite
+soul while I was listening to the idle simpering of a
+fool. Ah, Luke King shall never know the truth!
+I'd rather lie dead before him than to see that wondrous
+light die out of his great, trusting eyes."</p>
+<p class="pnext">She heard Sam coming down the road, and through
+the silvery gauze of night she saw the red flare of
+his pipe. She turned into her own room and sat
+down on the bed, her little, high-instepped feet on
+the floor, her hands clasped between her knees.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="xxvii">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id28">XXVII</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">The events which took place at Chesters'
+that adventurous night had a remarkable
+effect on the young master of the
+place. After Ann Boyd had left him
+he restlessly paced the floor of the
+long veranda. Blind fury and unsatisfied passion
+held him in their clutch and drove him to and fro
+like a caged and angry lion. The vials of his first
+wrath were poured on the heads of his meddlesome
+guests, who had so unceremoniously thrust themselves
+upon him at such an inopportune moment,
+and from them his more poignant resentment was
+finally shifted to the woman whom for years he,
+with the rest of the community, had contemptuously
+regarded as the partner in his father's early
+indiscretions. That she—such a character—should
+suddenly rise to remind him of his duty to his manhood,
+and even enforce it under his own roof, was
+the most humiliating happening of his whole life.</p>
+<p class="pnext">These hot reflections and secret plans for revenge
+finally died away and were followed by a
+state of mind that, at its lowest ebb, amounted to
+a racking despair he had never known. Something
+told him that Ann Boyd had spoken grim truth
+when she had said that Virginia would never again
+fall under his influence, and certainly no woman
+had ever before so completely absorbed him. Up
+to this moment it had been chiefly her rare beauty
+and sweetness of nature that had charmed him, but
+now he began to realize the grandeur of her character
+and the depths to which her troubles had
+stirred his sympathies. As he recalled, word by
+word, all that had passed between them in regard
+to her nocturnal visit, he was forced to acknowledge
+that it was only through her absorbing desire to
+save her mother that she, abetted by her very
+purity of mind, had been blindly led into danger.
+He flushed and shuddered under the lash of the
+thought that he, himself, had constituted that
+danger.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He went to bed, but scarcely closed his eyes during
+the remainder of the night, and the next morning
+was up before the cook had made the fires in the
+kitchen range. He hardly knew what he would do,
+but he determined to see Virginia at the earliest
+opportunity and make an honest and respectful
+attempt to regain her confidence. He would give
+her the money she so badly needed—give it to her
+without restrictions, and trust to her gratitude to
+restore her faith in him. He spent all that morning,
+after eating a hasty breakfast, on a near-by
+wooded hill-side, from which elevation he had a fair
+view of Jane Hemingway's cottage. He saw Virginia
+come from the house in search of the cow,
+and with his heart in his mouth he was preparing
+to descend to meet her, when, to his consternation,
+he saw that she had joined Ann Boyd at the barn-yard
+of the latter, and then he saw the two go into
+Ann's house together. This augured ill for him,
+his fears whispered, and he remained at his post
+among the trees till the girl came out of the house
+and hastened homeward. For the next two days
+he hung about Jane Hemingway's cottage with
+no other thought in mind than seeing Virginia.
+Once from the hill-side he saw her as she was returning
+from Wilson's store, and he made all haste
+to descend, hoping to intercept her before she
+reached home, but he was just a moment too late.
+She was on the road a hundred yards ahead of him,
+and, seeing him, she quickened her step. He walked
+faster, calling out to her appealingly to stop, but
+she did not pause or look back again. Then he saw
+a wagon filled with men and women approaching
+on the way to market, and, knowing that such unseemly
+haste on his part and hers would excite
+comment, he paused at the roadside and allowed her
+to pursue her way unmolested. The next day being
+Sunday, he dressed himself with unusual care, keenly
+conscious, as he looked in the mirror, that his
+visage presented a haggard, careworn aspect that
+was anything but becoming. His eyes had the
+fixed, almost bloodshot stare of an habitual drunkard
+in the last nervous stages of downward progress.
+His usually pliant hair, as if surcharged with
+electricity, seemed to defy comb and brush, and
+stood awry; his clothes hung awkwardly; his quivering
+fingers refused to put the deft touch to his
+tie which had been his pride. At the last moment
+he discovered that his boots had not been blacked
+by the negro boy who waited on him every morning.
+He did this himself very badly, and then
+started out to church, not riding, for the reason that
+he hoped Virginia would be there, and that he
+might have the excuse of being afoot to join her
+and walk homeward with her. But she was not
+there, and he sat through Bazemore's long-winded
+discourse, hardly conscious that the minister, flattered
+by his unwonted presence, glanced at him
+proudly all through the service.</p>
+<p class="pnext">So it was that one thing and another happened
+to prevent his seeing Virginia till one morning at
+Wilson's store he heard that Jane Hemingway had,
+in some mysterious way, gotten the money she
+needed and had already gone to Atlanta. He suffered
+a slight shock over the knowledge that Virginia
+would now not need the funds he had been
+keeping for her, but this was conquered by the
+thought that he could go straight to the cottage,
+now that the girl's grim-faced guardian was away.
+So he proceeded at once to do this. As he approached
+the gate, a thrill of gratification passed
+over him, for he observed that Sam Hemingway
+was out at the barn, some distance from the house.
+As he was entering the gate and softly closing it
+after him, Virginia appeared in the doorway. Their
+eyes met. He saw her turn pale and stand alert
+and undecided, her head up like that of a young
+deer startled in a quiet forest. It flashed upon him,
+to his satisfaction, that she would instinctively retreat
+into the house, and that he could follow and
+there, unmolested even by a chance passer-by, say
+all he wanted to say, and say it, too, in the old
+fashion which had once so potently—if only temporarily—influenced
+her. But with a flash of wisdom
+and precaution, for which he had not given
+her credit, she seemed to realize the barriers beyond
+her and quickly stepped out into the porch, where
+coldly and even sternly she waited for him to
+speak.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Virginia," he said, taking off his hat and humbly
+sweeping it towards the ground, "I have been moving
+heaven and earth to get to see you alone." He
+glanced furtively down the road, and then added:
+"Let's go into the house. I've got something important
+to say to you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Still staring straight at him, she moved forward
+till she leaned against the railing of the porch. "I
+sha'n't do it," she said, firmly. "If I've been silly
+once, that is no reason I'll be so always. There is
+nothing you can say to me that can't be spoken
+here in the open sunlight."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Her words and tone struck him like a material
+missile well-aimed and deliberately hurled. There
+was a dignity and firm finality in her bearing which
+he felt could not be met with his old shallow suavity
+and seductive flattery. From credulous childhood
+she seemed, in that brief period, to have grown into
+wise maturity. If she had been beautiful in his
+eyes before, she was now, in her frigid remoteness,
+in her thorough detachment from their former intimacy,
+far more than that.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I meant no harm," he found himself articulating,
+almost in utter bewilderment. "I only
+thought that somebody passing might—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Might see me with you?" she flashed out, with
+sudden anger. "What do I care? I came out here
+just now and gave a tramp something to eat. If
+they see you here, I suppose it won't be the first
+time a girl has been seen talking to a man in front
+of her own home."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I didn't mean to offend you," he stammered, at
+the end of his resources; "but I've been utterly
+miserable, Virginia."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh! is that so?" she sneered.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, I have. I feel awfully bad about what took
+place. I wanted to give you that money for your
+mother, and that night when I finally got rid of
+those meddlesome devils and—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"In the name of Heaven, stop!" Virginia cried.
+"I simply will not stand here and talk about that."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But I have the money still," he said, feebly.
+"You kept your word in coming for it, and I want
+to keep mine."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I wouldn't touch a cent of it to save my life,"
+she hurled at him. "If my mother lay before my
+eyes dying in agony and your money would save
+her, I wouldn't have it. I wouldn't take it to save
+my soul from perdition."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You are making it very hard for me," he said,
+desperately; and then, with a frankness she could
+not have looked for even from his coarsest side,
+he went on passionately: "I'm only a man, Virginia—a
+human being, full of love, admiration, and—passion.
+Young as you are, I can't blame you, and,
+still you <em class="italics">did</em> encourage me. You know you did.
+I'm nearly insane over it all. I want you, Virginia.
+These meetings with you, and the things you have let
+me say to you, if you have said nothing yourself,
+have lifted me to the very sky. I simply cannot bear
+up under your present actions, knowing that that old
+woman has been talking against me. I am willing
+to do anything on earth to set myself right. I admire
+you more than I ever dreamed I could admire
+a woman, and my love for you is like a torrent that
+nothing can dam. I must have you, Virginia. The
+whole thing has gone too far. You ought to have
+thought of this before you agreed to come to my
+house alone at night, when you knew I was—when
+you knew I had every reason to expect that you—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Stop!" she cried, with white lips and eyes flashing.
+"You are a coward, as well as a scoundrel!
+You are daring to threaten me. You have made
+me hate myself. As for you, I despise you as I
+would a loathsome reptile. I hate you! I detest
+you! I wake up in the night screaming in terror,
+fancying that I'm again in that awful room, locked
+in like a slave, a prisoner subject to your will—waiting
+for you to bid good-night to your drunken
+friends—locked in by your hand to wait there in
+an agony of death. Love you? I hate you! I
+hate the very low-browed emptiness of your face.
+I hate my mother for the selfish fear of death which
+blinded me to my own rights as a woman. Oh,
+God, I want to die and be done with it!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">She suddenly covered her impassioned face with
+her hands and shook convulsively from head to
+foot.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, Virginia, don't, don't make a mountain out
+of a molehill," he began, with a leaning towards his
+old, seductive persuasiveness. "There is nothing to
+feel so badly about. You know that Ann Boyd
+got there before I—I—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That's all <em class="italics">you</em> know about it," she said, uncovering
+eyes that flashed like lightning. "When I
+went there, with no interest in you further than a
+silly love of your honeyed words and <em class="italics">to get your
+money</em>, I did what I'll never wipe from my memory."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Virginia"—he tried to assume a light laugh—"this
+whole thing has turned your head. You will
+feel differently about it later when your mother
+comes back sound and well. Ann Boyd is not
+going to tell what took place, and—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And you and I will have a secret of that nature
+between us!" she broke in, furiously. "That's got
+to blacken my memory, and be always before me!
+You are going to know <em class="italics">that</em> of me when—when, yes,
+I'll say it—when another man whose shoes you are
+unworthy to wipe believes me to be as free from
+contact with evil as a new-born baby."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Chester drew his brows together in sudden suspicion.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You are referring to Luke King!" he snapped
+out. "Look here, Virginia, don't make this matter
+any more serious than it is. I will not have a man
+like that held up to me as a paragon. I have heard
+that he used to hang around you when you were
+little, before he went off and came back so puffed
+up with his accomplishments, and I understand he
+has been to see you recently, but I won't stand his
+meddling in my affairs."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You needn't be afraid," Virginia said, with a bitterness
+he could not fathom. "There is nothing
+between Luke King and myself—absolutely nothing.
+You may rest sure that I'd never receive the
+attentions of a man of his stamp after what has
+passed between me and a man of your—" She
+paused.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He was now white with rage. His lower lip hung
+and twitched nervously.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You are a little devil!" he cried. "You know
+you are driving me crazy. But I will not be thrown
+over. Do you understand? I am not going to give
+you up."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't know how you will help yourself," she
+said, moving back towards the door. "I certainly
+shall never, of my own free will, see you alone again.
+What I've done, I've done, but I don't intend to
+have it thrown into my face day after day."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Look here, Virginia," he began, but she had
+walked erectly into the house and abruptly closed
+the door. He stood undecided for a moment, and
+then, crestfallen, he turned away.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="xxviii">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id29">XXVIII</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">One bright, crisp morning a few days
+later, after her uncle had ridden his
+old horse, in clanking, trace-chain harness,
+off to his field to do some ploughing,
+Virginia stole out unnoticed and
+went over to Ann Boyd's. The door of the farm-house
+stood open, and in the sitting-room the
+girl saw Ann seated near a window hemming a
+sheet.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I see from your face that you've had more
+news," the old woman said, as she smiled in greeting.
+"Sit down and tell me about it. I'm on
+this job and want to get through with it before I
+put it down."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I got a letter this morning," Virginia complied,
+"from a woman down there who said she was my
+mother's nurse. The operation was very successful,
+and she is doing remarkably well. The surgeon
+says she will have no more trouble with her affliction.
+It was only on the surface and was taken
+just in time."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Ah, just in time!" Ann held the sheet in her
+tense hands for a moment, and then crushed it into
+her capacious lap. "Then <em class="italics">she's</em> all right."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, she is all right, Mrs. Boyd. In fact, the
+doctor says she will soon be able to come home.
+The simple treatment can be continued here under
+their directions till she is thoroughly restored."</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was silence. Ann's face looked as hard as
+stone. She seemed to be trying to conquer some
+rising emotion, for she coughed, cleared her throat,
+and swallowed. Her heavy brows were drawn together,
+and the muscles of her big neck stood up
+under her tanned skin like tent-cords drawn taut
+from pole to stake.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I may as well tell you one particular thing and
+be done with it," she suddenly gulped. "I don't
+believe in deception of any sort whatever. I hate
+your mother as much as I could hate anything or
+anybody. I want it understood between us now
+on the spot that I done what I did for <em class="italics">you</em>, not for
+her. It may be Old Nick in me that makes me feel
+this way at such a time, but, you see, I understand
+her well enough to know she will come back primed
+and cocked for the old battle. The fear of death
+didn't alter her in her feelings towards me, and, now
+that she's on her feet, she will be worse than ever.
+It's purty tough to have to think that I put her in
+such good fighting trim, but I did it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I am afraid you are right about her future attitude,"
+Virginia sighed, "and that was one reason
+I did not want help to come through you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That makes no odds now," Ann said, stoically.
+"What's done is done. I'm in the hands of two
+powers—good and evil—and here lately I never
+know, when I get out of bed in the morning,
+whether I'm going to feel the cool breath of one or
+the hot blast of the other. For months I had but
+one desire, and that was to see you, you poor,
+innocent child, breathing the fumes of the hell I sunk
+into; and just as my hopes were about to be realized
+the other power caught me up like a swollen river
+and swept me right the other way. Luke King
+really caused it. Child, since God made the world
+He never put among human beings a man with
+a finer soul. That poor, barefoot mountain boy
+that I picked up and sent off to school has come
+back—like Joseph that was dropped in a pit—a
+king among men. Under the lash of his inspired
+tongue I had to rise from my mire of hatred and
+do my duty. I might not have been strong enough
+in the right way if—if I hadn't loved him so much,
+and if he hadn't told me, poor boy, with tears in
+his eyes and voice, that you were the only woman
+in the world for him, and that his career would be
+wrecked if he lost you. I let him leave me without
+making promises. I was mad and miserable
+because I was about to be thwarted. But when he
+was gone I got to thinking it over, and finally I
+couldn't help myself, and acted. I determined, if
+possible, to pull you back from the brink you stood
+on and give you to him, that you might live the life
+that I missed."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Virginia sank into a chair. She was flushed from
+her white, rounded neck to the roots of her hair.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, I didn't deserve it!" she cried. "I have
+remained silent when my mother was heaping abuse
+upon you. I made no effort to do you justice
+when your enemies were crying you down. Oh,
+Mrs. Boyd, you are the best and most unselfish
+woman that ever lived."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, I am not that," Ann declared, firmly. "I'm
+just like the general run of women, weak and wishy-washy,
+with dry powder in my make-up that anybody
+can touch a match to. There is no counting
+on what I'll do next. Right now I feel like being
+your stanch friend, but I really don't know but
+what, if your mammy hemmed me in a corner, I'd
+even throw up to her what you did that night. I say
+I don't know what notion might strike me. She
+can, with one word or look of hers, start perdition's
+fire in me. I don't know any more than a cat what
+made me go contrary to my plans that night. It
+wasn't in a thousand miles of what I wanted to
+do, and having Jane Hemingway come back here
+with a sound body and tongue of fire isn't what I
+saved money to pay for. If forgiveness is to be
+the white garment of the next life, mine will be as
+black as logwood dye."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"The pretty part of it all is that you don't know
+yourself as you really are," Virginia said, almost
+smiling in her enthusiasm. "Since I've seen the
+beautiful side of your character I've come almost
+to understand the eternal wisdom even in human
+ills. But for your hatred of my mother, your kindness
+to me would not be so wonderful. For a long
+time I had only my mother to love, but now, Mrs.
+Boyd, somehow, I have not had as great anxiety
+about her down there as I thought I would have.
+Really, my heart has been divided between you two.
+Mrs. Boyd, I love you. I can't help it—I love you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ann suddenly raised her sheet and folded it in her
+lap. Her face had softened; there was a wonderful
+spiritual radiance in her eyes.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It's powerful good and sweet of you to—to talk
+that way to a poor, despised outcast like I am. I
+can't remember many good things being said about
+me, and when you say you feel that way towards
+me, why—well, it's sweet of you—that's all, it's
+sweet and kind of you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You have <em class="italics">made</em> me love you," Virginia said,
+simply. "I could not help myself."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ann looked straight at the girl from her moist,
+beaming eyes.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I'm a very odd woman, child, and I want to
+tell you what I regard as the oddest thing about
+me. You say you feel kind towards me, and, and—love
+me a little. Well, ever since that night in that
+young scamp's room, when I came on you, crouched
+down there in your misery and fear, looking so
+much like I must 'a' looked at one time away back
+when not a spark of hope flashed in my black sky—ever
+since I saw you that way, helpless as a fresh
+violet in the track of a grazing bull, I have felt a
+yearning to draw you up against this old storm-beaten
+breast of mine and rock you to sleep. That's
+odd, but that isn't the odd thing I was driving at,
+and it is this, Virginia—I don't care a snap of my
+finger about my <em class="italics">own</em> child. Think of that. If I
+was to hear of her death to-night it wouldn't be
+any more to me than the news of the death of any
+stranger."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That <em class="italics">is</em> queer," said Virginia, thoughtfully.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, it's only nature working, I reckon," Ann
+said. "I loved her as a baby—in a natural way, I
+suppose—but when she went off from me, and by
+her going helped—child though she was—to stamp
+the brand on me that has been like the mark of a
+convict on my brow ever since—when she went off,
+I say, I hardened my heart towards her, and day
+after day I kept it hard till now she couldn't soften
+it. Maybe if I was to see her in trouble like you
+were in, my heart would go out to her; but she's
+independent of me; the only thing I've ever heard
+of her is that she cries and shudders at the mention
+of my name. She shudders at it, and she'll
+go down to her grave shuddering at it. She'll teach
+her children not to mention me. No, I'll never love
+her, and that's why it seems odd for me to feel like
+I do about you. Heaven knows, it seems like a
+dream when I remember that you are Jane Hemingway's
+child and the chief pride of her hard life.
+As for my own girl, she's full grown now, and has
+her natural plans and aspirations, and is afraid my
+record will blight them. I don't even know how
+she looks, but I have in mind a tall, stiff-necked,
+bony girl inclined to awkwardness, selfish, grasping,
+and unusually proud. But I can love as well as
+hate, though I've done more hating in my life than
+loving. There was a time I thought the very seeds
+of love had dried up in me, but about that time I
+picked up Luke King. Even as a boy he seemed
+to look deep into the problems of life, and was sorry
+for me. Somehow me and him got to talking over
+my trouble as if he'd been a woman, and he always
+stood to me and pitied me and called me tender
+names. You see, nobody at his home understood
+him, and he had his troubles, too, so we naturally
+drifted together like a mother and son pulled towards
+one another by the oddest freak of circumstances
+that ever came in two lives. We used to
+sit here in this room and talk of the deepest questions
+that ever puzzled the human brain. Our
+reason told us the infinite plan of the universe must
+be good, but we couldn't make it tally with the
+heavy end of it we had to tote. He was rebellious
+against circumstances and his lazy old step-father's
+conduct towards him, and he finally kicked over
+the traces and went West. Well, he had his eyes
+open out there, and came back with the blaze of
+spiritual glory in his manly face. He started in to
+practise what he was preaching, too. He yanked
+out of his pocket the last dollar of his savings and
+forked it over to the last people on earth to deserve
+it. That made me so mad I couldn't speak to him
+for a while, but now I'm forced to admit that
+the sacrifice hasn't harmed him in the least. He's
+plunging ahead down there in the most wonderful
+way, and content—well, content but just for one
+thing. I reckon you know what that is?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ann paused. Virginia was looking out through
+the open doorway, a flush creeping over her sensitive
+face. She started to speak, but the words
+hung in her throat, and she only coughed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, you know as well as I do," Ann went on,
+gently. "He come over here the other night after
+he left your house. He hitched his horse at the
+gate and come in and sat down. I saw something
+serious had happened, and as he was not due here,
+and was overwhelmed with business in Atlanta, I
+thought he had met with money trouble. I made
+up my mind then and there, too, that I'd back him
+to the extent of every thimbleful of land and every
+splinter of timber in my possession; but it wasn't
+money he wanted. It was something else. He sat
+there in the moonlight that was shining through
+the door, with his head on his breast plumb full of
+despair. I finally got it out of him. You'd refused
+him outright. You'd decided that you could
+get on without the love and life-devotion of the
+grandest man that ever lived. I was thoroughly mad
+at you then. I come in an inch of turning plumb
+against you, but I didn't. I fought for you as I'd
+have fought for myself away back in my girlhood.
+I did it, although I could have spanked you good
+for making him so miserable."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You know why I refused him," Virginia said,
+in a low voice. "You, of all persons, will know that."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't know as I do," Ann said, with a probing
+expression in her eyes. "I don't know, unless,
+after all, you have a leaning for that young scamp,
+who has no more real honor than a convict in his
+stripes. Women are that way, except in very rare
+cases. The bigger the scoundrel and the meaner
+he treats them the more they want him. If it's
+that, I am not going to upbraid you. Upbraiding
+folks for obeying the laws of nature is the greatest
+loss of wind possible. If you really love that scamp,
+no power under high heaven will turn you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Love him? I loathe him!" burst passionately
+from Virginia's lips.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Then what under the sun made you treat Luke
+King as you did?" asked Ann, almost sternly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Because I could not marry him," said the girl,
+firmly. "I'd rather die than accept the love and
+devotion of a man as noble as he is after—after—oh,
+you know what I mean!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, I see—I see," Ann said, her brows meeting.
+"There comes another law of nature. I reckon if
+you feel that way, any argument I'd put up would
+fall on deaf ears."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I could never accept his love and confidence
+without telling him all that took place that night,
+and I'd kill myself rather than have him know,"
+declared the girl.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, <em class="italics">that's</em> the trouble!" Ann exclaimed. "Well,
+I hope all that will wear away in time. It's fortunate
+that you are not loved by a narrow fool, my
+child. Luke King has seen a lots of the world in
+his young life."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"He has not seen enough of the world to make
+him overlook a thing of that kind, and you know
+it," Virginia sighed. "I really believe the higher a
+man becomes spiritually the higher his ideal of a
+woman is. I know what he thinks of me now, but
+I don't know what he would think if he knew the
+whole truth. He must never be told that, Mrs.
+Boyd. God knows I am grateful to you for
+all you have done, but you must not tell him
+that."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ann put down her sheet and went to the fireplace,
+and with the tip of her coarse, gaping shoe
+she pushed some burning embers under a three-legged
+pot on the stone hearth. With her tongs she
+lifted the iron lid and looked at a corn-pone browning
+within, and then she replaced it. Her brow was
+deeply wrinkled.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You told me everything that happened that
+night, if I remember right," she said, tentatively.
+"In fact, I know you did."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Virginia said nothing; her thoughts seemed elsewhere.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Leaning the tongs against the fireplace, Ann came
+forward and bent over her almost excitedly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Look here, child," she said, "you told me that—that
+I got there in time. You told me—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I told you all I thought was necessary for you
+to understand the situation," said Virginia, her eyes
+downcast, "but I didn't tell you all I'd have to tell
+Luke King—to be his wife."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You say you didn't." Ann sat down heavily in
+her chair. "Then be plain with me; what under
+the sun did you leave out?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I left out the fact that I was crazy that night,"
+said Virginia. "I read in a book once that a woman
+is so constituted that she can't see reason in anything
+which does not coincide with her desires. I
+saw only one thing that night that was worth considering.
+I saw only the awful suffering of my
+mother and the chance to put an end to it by getting
+hold of that man's money. Do you understand
+now? I went there for that purpose. I'd
+have laid down my life for it. When those men
+came he urged me to run and hide in his room, as
+he and I stood on the veranda, and it was not fear
+of exposure that drove me up the stairs holding
+to his hand. It was the almost appalling fear that
+the promised money would slip through my fingers
+if I didn't obey him to the letter. And when he
+whispered, with his hot breath in my ear, there in
+his room, as his friends were loudly knocking at
+the door below, that he would rid himself of them
+and come back, and asked me if I'd wait, I said
+yes, as I would, have said it to God in heaven.
+Then he asked me if it was '<em class="italics">a promise</em>,' and I said
+yes again. Then he asked me, Mrs. Boyd, he asked
+me—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Virginia's voice died out. She fell to quivering
+from head to foot.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, well, go on!" Ann said, under her breath.
+"Go on. What did he ask you?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Virginia hesitated for another minute, then, with
+her face red with shame, she said: "He asked me to
+prove it by—kissing him—kissing him of my own
+free will. I hesitated, I think. Yes, I hesitated,
+but I heard the steps of the men in the hall below
+at the foot of the stairs. I thought of the money,
+Mrs. Boyd, and I kissed him."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You did?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes. I did—there, <em class="italics">in his room</em>!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I'm glad you told me that," Ann breathed,
+deeply. "I think I understand it better now. I
+understand how you feel."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"So you see, all that's what I'd have to tell Luke
+King," Virginia said; "and I'll never do it—never
+on this earth. I want him always to think of me
+as he does right now."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ann locked her big hands in her lap and bent
+forward.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I see my greatest trouble is going to lie with
+you," she said. "You are conscientious. Millions
+of women have kept worse things than that from
+their husbands and never lost a wink of sleep over
+them, but you seem to be of a different stripe. I
+think Luke King is too grand a man to hold that
+against you, under all the circumstances. I think
+so, but I don't know men any better than they know
+women, and I'm not going to urge you one way or
+the other. I thought my easy-going husband would
+do me justice, but he couldn't have done it to save
+his neck from the loop. In my opinion there never
+will be any happy unions between men and women
+till men quit thinking so much about the weakness
+of women's <em class="italics">bodies</em> and so little of the strength of
+their <em class="italics">souls</em>. The view you had that night of the
+dark valley of a living death, and your escape from
+it, has lifted you into a purity undreamt of by the
+average woman. If Luke King's able to comprehend
+that, he may get him a wife on the open mountain-top;
+if not, he can find her in the bushes at the foot.
+He'll obey his natural law, as you and I will ours."</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="xxix">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id30">XXIX</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">In dire dread of facing the anger of his
+father, who was expected back from
+Savannah, for having sold the horse
+which the Colonel himself was fond of
+riding, and being in the lowest dregs
+of despondency and chagrin over the humiliating
+turn his affair with Virginia had taken, Langdon
+Chester packed his travelling-bag and hurried off to
+Atlanta.</p>
+<p class="pnext">There he had a middle-aged bachelor cousin,
+Chester Sively, who was as fair an example as one
+could well find of the antebellum Southern man of
+the world carried forward into a new generation
+and a more active and progressive environment.
+Fortunately for him, he had inherited a considerable
+fortune, and he was enabled to live in somewhat the
+same ease as had his aristocratic forebears. He had
+a luxurious suite of rooms in one of the old-fashioned
+houses in Peachtree Street, where he always welcomed
+Langdon as his guest, in return for the hospitality
+of the latter during the hunting season on
+the plantation.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Another row with the head of the house?" he
+smiled, as he rose from his easy-chair at a smoking-table
+to shake hands with the new arrival, who,
+hot and dusty, had alighted from a rickety cab,
+driven by a sleepy negro in a battered silk top-hat,
+and sauntered in, looking anything but cheerful.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why did you think that?" Langdon asked, after
+the negro had put down his bag and gone.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why? Oh, because it has been brewing for a
+long time, old chap," Sively smiled; "and because
+it is as natural for old people to want to curb the
+young as it is for them to forget their own youth.
+When I was up there last, Uncle Pres could scarcely
+talk of anything but your numerous escapades."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"We didn't actually have the <em class="italics">row</em>," Langdon
+sighed, "but it would have come if I hadn't lit out
+before he got back from Savannah. The truth is"—the
+visitor dropped his eyes—"he has allowed me
+almost no pocket-money of late, and, getting in a
+tight place—debts, you know, and one thing and
+another—I let my best horse go at a sacrifice the
+other day. Father likes to ride him, and he's going
+to raise sand about it. Oh, I couldn't stand it, and
+so I came away. It will blow over, you know, but
+it will do so quicker if I'm here and he's there.
+Besides, he is always nagging me about having no
+profession or regular business, and if I see a fair
+opening down here, I'm really going to work."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You'll never do it in this world." Sively laughed,
+and his dark eyes flashed merrily as he pulled at his
+well-trained mustache. "You can no more do that
+sort of thing than a cat-fish can hop about in a
+bird-cage. In an office or bank you'd simply pine
+away and die. Your ancestors lived in the open
+air, with other people to work for them, and you are
+simply too near that period to do otherwise. I
+know, my boy, because I've tried to work. If I
+didn't have private interests that pin me down to
+a sort of routine, I'd be as helpless as you are."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You are right, I reckon." Langdon reached
+out to the copper bowl on the table and took a
+cigar. "I know, somehow, that the few business
+openings I have heard of now and then have simply
+sickened me. When I get as much city life as is
+good for me down here, I like to run back to the
+mountains. Up there I can take my pipe and gun
+and dog and—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And enjoy life right; you bet you can," Sively
+said, enthusiastically. "Well, after all, it's six of
+one and half a dozen of the other. My life isn't all
+it's cracked up to be by men who say they are
+yearning for it. Between you and me, I feel like
+a defunct something or other when I hear these
+thoroughly up-to-date chaps talking at the club
+about their big enterprises which they are making
+go by the very skin of their teeth. Why, I know
+one fellow under thirty who has got every electric
+car-line in the city tied to the tips of his fingers.
+I know another who is about to get Northern backing
+for a new railroad from here to Asheville, which
+he started on nothing but a scrap of club writing-paper
+one afternoon over a bottle of beer. Then
+there is that darned chap from up your way, Luke
+King. He's a corker. He had little education, I
+am told, and sprang from the lowest cracker stock,
+but he's the sensation of the hour down here."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"He's doing well, then," Langdon said, a touch of
+anger in his tone as he recalled Virginia's reference
+to King on their last meeting.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well? You'd think so. Half the capitalists in
+Atlanta are daft about him. They call him a great
+political, financial, and moral force, with a brain as
+big as Abraham Lincoln's. I was an idiot. I had
+a chance to get in on the ground-floor when that
+paper of his started, but I was wise—I was knowing.
+When I heard the manager of the thing was
+the son of one of your father's old tenants, I pulled
+down one corner of my eye and turned him over to
+my financial rivals. You bet I see my mistake now.
+The stock is worth two for one, and not a scrap on
+the market at that. Do you know what the directors
+did the other day? When folks do it for you
+or me we will feel flattered. They insured his life
+for one hundred thousand dollars, because if he
+were to die the enterprise wouldn't have a leg to
+stand on. You see, it's all in his big brain. I suppose
+you know something about his boyhood?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh yes," Langdon said, testily; "we were near
+the same age, and met now and then, but, you know,
+at that time our house was so full of visitors that I
+had little chance to see much of people in the neighborhood,
+and then he went West."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Ah, yes," said Sively, "and that's where his
+boom started. They are circulating some odd stories
+on him down here, but I take them all with
+a grain of salt. They say he sold out his Western
+interests for a good sum and gave every red cent
+of it to his poor old mother and step-father."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That's a fact," said Langdon. "I happen to
+know that it is absolutely true. When he got back
+he found his folks in a pretty bad shape, and he
+bought a good farm for them."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I call that a brave thing," said the older
+man—"a thing I couldn't do to save my neck from
+the halter. No wonder his editorials have stirred
+up the reading public; he means what he says.
+He's the most conspicuous man in Atlanta to-day.
+But, say, you want to go to your room, and I'm
+keeping you. Go in and make yourself comfortable.
+I may not get to see much of you for two or
+three days. I have to run out of town with some
+men from Boston who are with me in a deal for some
+coal and iron land, but I'll see you when I return."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, I can get along all right, thanks," Langdon
+said, as Pomp, Sively's negro man-servant, came for
+his bag in obedience to his master's ring.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Three days later, on his return to town from a
+trip to the country, Sively, not seeing anything of
+his guest, asked Pomp where he was.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Don't know whar he is now, boss," the negro
+said, dryly. "I haint seed 'im since dis mawnin',
+when he got out o' bed an' had me shave 'im up
+an' bresh his clothes. I tell you, Marse Sively, dat
+man's doin' powerful funny. He's certainly gone
+wrong somehow."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, what do you mean?" the bachelor asked,
+in alarm. "He looked all right when he got here."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Huh, I don't know what ails 'im, suh," the
+negro grunted, "but I kin see he's actin' curious.
+Dat fust mawnin' when I went in his room to clean
+up an' make de baid I come in easy like to keep fum
+wakin' 'im, but, bless you, he was already up, standin'
+at de window lookin' out in de street an' actually
+groanin' to hisse'f like some'n' was wrong wid his
+insides. I axed 'im what was de matter, an' if he
+wants me to telephone fer de doctor, but he lit in
+to cussin' me at sech a rate dat I seed it wasn't any
+ailment o' de flesh, anyway. He ordered me to go
+to de café fer his breakfast, an' I fetched 'im what he
+always did fancy—fried chicken, eggs on toast, an'
+coffee wid whipped cream—but, bless you, he let
+'em get stone cold on de table, an' wouldn't touch
+a thing but what was in yo' decanter."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You don't tell me," Sively said, anxiously.
+"What has he been doing of evenings? Did he go
+to the Kimball House dance? I had Colville send
+him tickets. The Williamsons asked him to their
+card-party, too. Did he go?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Not a step," Pomp replied. "He had me lay
+out his claw-hammer coat an' get it pressed at
+de tailor-shop dat fust night, and stirred around
+considerable, wid several drinks in 'im. He even
+had me clean his patent-leather pumps and ordered
+a cab fum de stable. Said he wasn't goin' to ride in
+one o' dem rickety street hacks wid numbers on 'em
+an' disgrace you. But, suh, de cab come an' I had
+everything out clean on de baid even to a fresh
+tube-rose for his button-hole. He sat around
+smokin' and runnin' fer de decanter ever' now and
+den, but wouldn't take off a rag of his old clothes,
+an' kept walkin' de flo', fust to de winder an' den
+back to de lounge, whar he'd throw hisse'f down at
+full length an' roll an' toss like he had de cramps.
+I went to 'im, I did, at ten o'clock, an' told 'im he
+was gwine to miss de grand promenade an' let all
+de rest of 'em fill up de ladies' cards, but he stared
+at me, suh, like he didn't know what I was talkin'
+about, an' den he come to his senses, an' told me he
+wasn't goin' to no dance. He went to de window
+an' ordered de cab off. De next mawnin' he had
+all his nice dress-suit stuffed in a wad in his valise.
+It was a sight, I'm here to tell you, an' he was settin'
+on de baid smoking. He said he'd had enough
+o' dis town, an' believed he'd take de train home;
+but he didn't, suh. De next night I was sho'
+oneasy, an' I watched 'im de best I could widout
+makin' 'im mad. He et a bite o' de supper I fetched
+'im, and den, atter dark, he started out on foot. I
+followed 'im, kase I 'lowed you'd want me to ef you
+was here."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, of course," Sively said; "and where did he
+go?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Nowhar, suh—dat is, he didn't stop a single
+place. He just walked and walked everywhar and
+anywhar. It didn't make no odds to him, jest so
+he was movin' his laigs. He must 'a' covered five
+good miles in de most zigzag travellin' you ever
+seed—went clean to de gate o' de Exposition
+grounds, an' den back, an' plumb round de Capitol
+and out Washington Street, wid me on his scent
+like a blood-hound after a runaway nigger; but
+dar wasn't much danger o' me bein' seen, fer he
+didn't look round. Well, he finally turned an'
+come home an' tumbled in baid about two in de
+mawnin'. Yesterday de Williamson ladies an' deir
+maw driv' up to de do' an' axed about 'im. Dey
+said he was down on de list fer dinner at dey house,
+an', as he didn't come or send no word, dey 'lowed
+he was laid up sick. De lawd knows, I didn't know
+what to tell 'em. I've got myse'f in trouble befo'
+now lyin' fer white men widout knowin' what I was
+lyin' about, an' I let dat chance slide, an' told 'em
+I didn't know a blessed thing about it. Dey driv'
+off in a big huff; all three dey backs was as straight
+as a ironin'-board."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Have you any idea where he is now?" Sively
+inquired, anxiously.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I think he's over at de club, suh. De waiters
+in de café told me dat he makes a habit o' loungin'
+round de back smokin'-room by hisse'f."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Drinking?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, suh—dat is, not any mo'n he kin tote. He
+walks straight enough, it jest seems like it's some'n'
+wrong in his mind, Marse Sively," and Pomp touched
+his black brow significantly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well," Sively said, after a moment's reflection,
+"order the horses and trap. If I can find him I'll
+take him out to the Driving Club. I'm glad I got
+back. I'll take him in hand. Between me and
+you, Pomp, I think he's had bad news from his
+father. I'm afraid my uncle has really laid down
+the law to him, cut off his spending-money, or something
+of the kind."</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="xxx">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id31">XXX</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">In the darkest corner of the quietest
+room in the club, Sively found his
+cousin gloomily smoking a cigar, a bottle
+of brandy on a table near him,
+and a copy of Luke King's paper on
+the floor at his feet. As he looked up his eyes had
+a shifting glare in them, and there was an air of
+utter dejection on him, though, on recognizing his
+cousin, he made a valiant effort to appear at ease.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, you are back, are you?" he said, awkwardly,
+flicking the ashes of his cigar over a tray.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, just in, old boy, and I've got my horses
+out for a spin to the Driving Club. Come along.
+The whole town is out on wheels; the afternoon is
+perfect. The idea of your sitting cooped up here, in
+smoke thick enough to cut with an axe, when you
+ought to be filling your lungs with ozone and enjoying
+life!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Langdon hesitated, but it was evident that he
+could formulate no reasonable excuse for declining
+the invitation, and so he reluctantly gave in. "Let
+me get my hat," he said, and together they strolled
+down the wide entrance-hall to the hat-rack.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I felt rather uneasy when I missed you at my
+rooms," Sively remarked, as they were approaching
+the trap at the door. "Pomp could give no account
+of you, and I didn't know but what you'd skipped
+out for home. Have a good time while I was away?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh yes, yes," Chester answered, as he got into
+the vehicle and began to adjust the lap-robes about
+him. "I got along all right. You see, old man,
+I'm sort of getting on the social retired-list. Living
+in the country, where we have few formalities, has
+turned me somewhat against your teas, dinners, and
+dances. I never go without feeling out of it somehow.
+You Atlanta men seem to know how to combine
+business and society pretty well; but, having
+no business when I'm here, I get sick of doing the
+other thing exclusively."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, I see," said Sively, who was too deeply
+versed in human nature to be misled.</p>
+<p class="pnext">As they sped along the smooth asphalt pavement
+of Peachtree Street, dodging trolley-cars and passing
+or meeting open vehicles filled with pleasure-seekers,
+Sively's hat and arm were in continual
+motion bowing to friends and acquaintances. The
+conversation languished. Sively found it very difficult
+to keep it going as he noted the deep lines of
+care which marked his cousin's face. He was quite
+sure something of a very serious nature had happened
+to Langdon, and his sympathies were deeply
+stirred.</p>
+<p class="pnext">After twenty minutes' brisk driving, they reached
+the club-house and entered the throng of fashionably
+dressed men and women distributed about at the
+numerous refreshment-tables under the trees. The
+club was on a slight elevation, and below them
+stretched the beautiful greensward of the extensive
+Exposition grounds. Several of the liveried servants,
+recognizing Sively, approached and offered
+chairs at their respective tables, but, sensing his
+cousin's desire not to be thrown with others, he led
+the way through the laughing and chattering assemblage
+to a quiet table in a little smoking-room
+quite in the rear of the building.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"There," he smiled, "this will suit you better,
+I know."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, I think it will, if it's all the same to you,"
+Chester admitted, with a breath of relief. "The
+Lord only knows what I'd talk about out there in
+that chattering gang."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Sively ordered cigars, and, when the waiter had
+gone for them, he said, lightly: "No more liquor for
+you to-day, my boy. You hold your own all right,
+but you are too nervous to take any more."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Nervous? Do you think so? Do I look it?"
+Chester asked.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh yes, a little," said Sively. He was taking
+a bunch of cigars from the waiter, and, when he had
+signed his name to the accompanying slip of paper,
+he said, "Harry, pull the door to after you, and see
+that we are not disturbed."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Certainly, sir."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Langdon, with widening eyes, watched the negro
+as he went out and closed the door, then he glanced
+at his cousin inquiringly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I want to be alone with you, my boy," Sively
+said, with ill-assumed ease. "You can trust me,
+you know, and—well, the truth is, my boy, I want
+to know what you are in trouble about."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Me? Good gracious!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, don't begin that!" Sively said, firmly, as he
+struck a match and held it to the end of his cigar.
+"I won't stand it. You can't keep your feelings
+from me. At first, when Pomp told me about your
+not going out to those affairs when I was away, I
+thought your father had thrown you over for good
+and all, but it isn't that. My uncle couldn't do it,
+anyway. You are in trouble, my boy; what is it?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Langdon flushed and stared defiantly across the
+table into the fixed eyes of his cousin for a moment,
+and then he looked down.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, my father is all right," he said. "He's
+found out about the horse, but he didn't take it so
+very hard. In fact, he went to Darley and bought
+him back for only a slight advance on what I sold
+him for. He is worried about me, and writes for
+me to come on home."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Then, as I supposed, it is <em class="italics">not</em> your father," said
+Sively.</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was a pause. Langdon, with bloodless
+fingers, nervously broke his cigar half in two. He
+took another and listlessly struck a match, only to
+let its flame expire without using it.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What's the trouble, my boy?" pursued Sively.
+"I want to befriend you if I can. I'm older than
+you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I <em class="italics">am</em> in trouble," Langdon said, simply.
+Then, in a low tone, and with frequent pauses,
+he told all about his acquaintance with Virginia.
+Once started, he left out no detail, extending his
+confidence till it had included a humble confession
+even of his humiliation by Ann Boyd and the girl's
+bitter words of contempt a few days later. "Then
+I had to come away," Langdon finished, with a sigh
+that was a whispered groan. "I couldn't stand it.
+I thought the change, the life and excitement down
+here, would make me forget, but it's worse than
+ever. I'm in hell, old man—a regular hell."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Sively leaned back in his chair. There was an
+expression of supreme disgust about his sensitive
+nose and mouth, and his eyes burned with indignant,
+spirit-fed fires.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Great God!" he exclaimed; "and it was <em class="italics">that</em> girl—that
+particular one—Jane Hemingway's daughter!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You've seen her, then?" Langdon said, in
+awakening surprise.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Seen her? Great Heavens, of course, I've seen
+her, and, now that I know all this, her sweet, young
+face will never go out of my mind—never as long
+as life is in me."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't exactly see—I don't understand—"
+Langdon began, but his cousin interrupted him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I had a talk with her one day," he said, feelingly.
+"I had been hunting with your gun and dogs, and
+stopped at her mother's house to get a drink of
+water. Virginia was the only one at home, and she
+brought it to me in the little porch. I've met
+thousands of women, Langdon, but her beauty,
+grace, intelligence, and dazzling purity affected me
+as I never was before. I am old enough to be her
+father, but do you know what I thought as I sat
+there and talked to her? I thought that I'd give
+every dollar I had for the love and faith of such a
+girl—to leave this rotten existence here and settle
+down there in the mountains to earn my living by
+the sweat of my brow. It was almost the only silly
+dream I ever had, but it was soon over. A thousand
+times since that day, in the midst of all this
+false show and glitter, my mind has gone back to
+that wonderful girl. She'd read books I'd never
+had time to open, and talked about them as freely
+and naturally as I would about things of everyday
+life. No doubt she was famished for what all
+women, good or bad, love—the admiration of men—and
+so she listened eagerly to your slick tongue.
+Oh, I know what you said, and exactly how you
+said it. You've inherited that gift, my boy, but
+you've inherited something—perhaps from your
+mother—something that your father never had in
+his make-up—you've inherited a capacity for remorse,
+self-contempt, the throes of an outraged
+conscience. I'm a man of the world—I don't go to
+church, I play cards, I race horses, I've gone all
+the gaits—but I know there is something in most
+men which turns their souls sick when they consciously
+commit crime. <em class="italics">Crime!</em>—yes, that's it—don't stop
+me. I used a strong word, but it must go. There
+are men who would ten thousand times rather shoot
+a strong, able-bodied man dead in his tracks than
+beguile a young girl to the brink of doom (of all
+ways) as you did—blinding her to her own danger
+by the holy desire to save her mother's life, pulling
+her as it were by her very torn and bleeding heart-strings.
+God!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, don't—don't make it any worse than it is!"
+Langdon groaned. "What's done's done, and, if
+I'm down in the blackest depths of despair over it,
+what's the use to kick me? I'm helpless. Do you
+know what I actually thought of doing this morning?
+I actually lay in bed and planned my escape.
+I wanted to turn on the gas, but I knew
+it would never do its work in that big, airy room."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, don't be a fool, Langdon!" Sively said,
+suddenly pulled around. "Never think of such a
+thing again. When a man that <em class="italics">is</em> a man does a
+wrong, there is only one thing for him to do, and
+that is to set it right."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Set it right? But how?" Langdon cried, almost
+eagerly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, there are several ways to make a stab
+at it, anyway," Sively said; "and that is better than
+wiping your feet on a gentle creature and then going
+off and smoking a gas-pipe. What I want to
+know is this: do you <em class="italics">love</em> that girl, really and
+genuinely <em class="italics">love</em> her?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, I think I do," said Langdon; "in fact, I
+now <em class="italics">know</em> it; if I didn't, why should I be here miserable
+enough to die about what has happened and
+her later treatment of me?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I couldn't take your diagnosis of your particular
+malady." Sively puffed thoughtfully at his
+cigar. "You'd be the last person, really, that could
+decide on that. There are some men in the world who
+can't tell the difference between love and passion,
+and they are led to the altar by one as often as the
+other. But the passion-led man has walked through
+the pink gates of hell. When his temporary desire
+has been fed, he'll look into the face of his bride
+with absolute loathing and contempt. She'll be
+too pure, as a rule, to understand the chasm between
+them, but she will know that for her, at
+least, marriage is a failure. Now, if I thought you
+really loved that pretty girl—if I thought you really
+were man enough to devote the rest of your days to
+blotting from her memory the black events of that
+night; if I thought you'd go to her with the hot
+blood of hell out of your veins, and devote yourself
+to winning her just as some young man on her own
+social level would do, paying her open and respectful
+attentions, declaring your honorable intentions
+to her relatives and friends—if I thought you were
+man enough to do that, in spite of the opposition
+of your father and mother, then I'd glory in your
+spunk, and I'd think more of you, my poor boy,
+than I ever have in all my life."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Langdon leaned forward. He had felt his cousin's
+contemptuous words less for the hope they embodied.
+"Then you think if I did that, she might—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't know what <em class="italics">she'd</em> do," Sively broke in.
+"I only know that when you finally saw her after
+that night and made no declarations of honorable
+intentions, that you simply emphasized the cold-blooded
+insult of what had already happened. She
+saw in your following her up only a desire to repeat
+the conduct which had so nearly entrapped her.
+My boy, I am not a mean judge of women, and I
+am afraid you have simply lost that girl forever.
+She has lowered herself, as she perhaps looks at it,
+in the eyes of another woman—the one who saved
+her—and her young eyes have been torn open to
+things she was too pure and unsuspecting even to
+dream of. However, all her life she has heard of
+the misfortune of this Mrs. Boyd, and she now realizes
+only too vividly what she has escaped. It
+might take you years to restore her confidence—to
+prove to her that you love her for herself alone, but
+if I stood in your shoes I'd do it if it took me a
+lifetime. She is worth it, my boy. In fact, I'm
+afraid she is—now pardon me for being so blunt—but
+I'm afraid she is superior to you in intellect.
+She struck me as being a most wonderful woman
+for her age. Given opportunity, she'd perhaps out-strip
+you. It is strange that she has had so little
+attention paid to her. Has she never had an admirer
+before?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Langdon exhaled a deep breath before replying.
+"That is something I've been worried about," he
+admitted. "From little things she has dropped
+I imagine this same Luke King used to be very
+fond of her before he left for the West. They have
+met since he got back, and I'm afraid she—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Good gracious! that puts another face on the
+business," said Sively. "I don't mean any disparagement
+to you, but if—if there ever was any
+understanding between them, and he has come back
+such a success, why, it isn't unlikely that you'd
+have a rival worth giving attention to. A man of
+that sort rarely ever makes a mistake in marrying.
+If he is after that girl, you've got an interesting
+fight ahead of you—that is, if you intend to buck
+against him. Now, I see, I've made you mad."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Do you think I'd let a man of his birth and
+rearing thwart me?" Langdon cried—"a mountain
+cracker, a clodhopper, an uncouth, unrefined—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Stop! you are going too far," said Sively, quickly.
+"Our old idea that refinement can only come
+from silk-lined cradles is about exploded. It seems
+to me that refinement is as natural as a love of art,
+music, or poetry. And not only has that chap got
+refinement of a decided sort, but he's got a certain
+sort of pride that makes him step clean over a reverence
+for our defunct traditions. When he meets
+a scion of the old aristocracy his clear eye doesn't
+waver as he stares steadily into the face as if to see
+if the old régime has left a fragment of brains there
+worth inspecting. Oh, he gets along all right in
+society! The Holts had him at the club reception
+and dinner the other night, and our best women
+were actually <em class="italics">asking</em> to be introduced to him,
+and—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But why are you telling all this stuff to me?"
+Langdon thundered, as he rose angrily to signify
+that he was ready to go.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why do I?" Sively said, pacifically. "Because
+you've simply got to know the genuine strength of
+your rival, if he <em class="italics">is</em> that, and you have to cross
+swords with him. If the fellow really intends to
+win that girl, he will perhaps display a power in
+the undertaking that you never saw. I'd as soon
+fight a buzz-saw with bare hands as to tackle him
+in a fight for a woman's love. Oh, I've got started,
+my boy, and I'll have to reel it all off, and be done
+with it. There is one thing you may get mad and
+jealous enough to do—that is, in case you are this
+fellow King's rival—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What do you mean? What did you start to
+say?" Langdon glared down at his cousin.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, you might—I say might—fall low enough
+to try to use the poor girl's little indiscretion against
+her. But if you do, my boy, I'll go back on you.
+I'll do it as sure as there is a God in heaven. I
+wish you luck with her, but it all depends on you.
+If you will be a man, you may be happy in the end,
+get a beautiful, trusting wife, and wipe the mire off
+your soul which is making you so miserable. Go
+straight home and set about it in the right way.
+Begin with a humble proposal of marriage. That
+will show your intentions at the outset. Now, let's
+get out in the open air."</p>
+<p class="pnext">They walked through the gay throng again to the
+carriage, and as they were getting in Langdon said,
+almost cheerfully: "I'm going to take your advice.
+I know I love her, honestly and truly, for I want
+her with every nerve in my body. I haven't slept
+a single night through since the thing happened.
+I've simply been crazy."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, the whole thing lies with you," said Sively.
+"The girl must have cared <em class="italics">something</em> for you at one
+time, and you must recover your lost place in her
+estimation. A humble proposal of marriage will,
+in my judgment, soften her more than anything else.
+It will be balm to her wounded pride, too, and you
+may win. You've got a fair chance. Most poor
+mountain girls would be flattered by the opportunity
+to marry a man above them in social position, and
+she may be that way. Be a man, and pay no attention
+to your father's objections. When the proper
+time comes, I'll talk to him."</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="xxxi">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id32">XXXI</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">After leaving Atlanta, with only her
+normal strength and flesh to regain,
+Jane Hemingway returned to her
+mountain home in most excellent spirits.
+She had heartily enjoyed her stay,
+and was quite in her best mood before the eager
+group of neighbors who gathered at her cottage the
+afternoon of her return.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What <em class="italics">I</em> can't understand," remarked old Mrs.
+Penuckle, "is why you don't say more about the
+cutting. Why, the knife wasn't going into <em class="italics">me</em> at
+all, and yet on the day I thought the doctors would
+be at work on you I couldn't eat my dinner. I went
+around shuddering, fancying I could feel the blade
+rake, rake through my vitals. Wasn't you awfully
+afraid?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Bless your soul, no!" Jane laughed merrily.
+"There wasn't a bit more of a quiver on me than
+there is right now. We was all talking in a funny
+sort of way and passing jokes to the last minute
+before they gave me ether. They gave it to me
+in a tin thing full of cotton that they clapped over
+my mouth and nose. I had to laugh, I remember,
+for, just as he got ready, Dr. Putnam said, with his sly
+grin, 'Look here, I'm going to muzzle you, old lady,
+so you can't talk any more about your neighbors.'"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, he certainly give you a bliff there without
+knowing it," remarked Sam Hemingway, dryly.
+"But he's a fool if he thinks a tin thing full o' drugs
+would do that."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, go on and tell us about the cutting," said
+Mrs. Penuckle, wholly oblivious of Sam's sarcasm.
+"That's what <em class="italics">I</em> come to hear about."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I reckon getting under that ether was the
+toughest part of the job," Jane smiled. "I took
+one deep whiff of it, and I give you my word I
+thought the pesky stuff had burnt the lining out of
+my windpipe. But Dr. Putnam told me he'd give
+it to me more gradual, and he did. It still burnt
+some, but it begun to get easy, and I drifted off
+into the pleasantest sleep, I reckon, I ever had.
+When I come to and found nobody in the room but
+a girl in a white apron and a granny's cap, I was
+afraid they had decided not to operate, and, when I
+asked her if there'd been any hitch, she smiled and
+said it was all over, and I wouldn't have nothing to
+do but lie still and pick up."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It's wonderful how fine they've got things down
+these days," commented Sam. "Ten years ago folks
+looked on an operation like that as next to a funeral,
+but it's been about the only picnic Jane's had since
+she was flying around with the boys."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The subject of this jest joined the others in a
+good-natured laugh. "There was just one thing on
+my mind to bother me," she said, somewhat more
+seriously, "and that was wondering who gave that
+money to Virginia. Naturally a thing like that
+would pester a person, especially where it was such
+a big benefit. I've been at Virginia to tell me, or
+give me some hint so I could find out myself, but
+the poor child looks awfully embarrassed, and keeps
+reminding me of her promise. I reckon there isn't
+but one thing to do, and that is to let it rest."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"There's only one person round here that's <em class="italics">got</em>
+any spare money," said Sam Hemingway, quite
+with a straight face, "and it happens, too, that
+she'd like to have a thing like that done."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, who do you mean, Sam?" His sister-in-law
+fell into his trap, as she sat staring at him
+blandly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, it's Ann Boyd—old Sister Ann. She'd pay
+for a job like that on the bare chance of the saw-bones
+making a miss-lick and cutting too deep, or
+blood-pizen settin' in."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Don't mention that woman's name to me!" Jane
+said, angrily. "You know it makes me mad, and
+that's why you do it. I tried to keep a humble and
+contrite heart in me down there; but, folks, I'm
+going to confess to you all that the chief joy I felt
+in getting my health back was on account of that
+woman's disappointment. I never mentioned it till
+now, but that meddlesome old hag actually knew
+about my ailment long before I let it out to a soul.
+Like a fool, I bought some fake medicine from a
+tramp peddler one day, and let him examine me.
+He went straight over to Ann Boyd's and told her.
+Oh, I know he did, for she met me at the wash-hole,
+during the hot spell, when water was scarce, and
+actually gloated over my coming misfortune. She
+wouldn't say what the ill-luck was, but I knew what
+she was talking about and where she got her information."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I never thought that old wench was as black as
+she was painted," Sam declared, with as much firmness
+as he could command in the presence of so
+much femininity. "If this had been a community
+of men, instead of three-fourths the other sort, she'd
+have been reinstated long before this. I'll bet, if
+the Scriptural injunction for the innocent to cast
+the first stone was obeyed, there wouldn't be no
+hail-storm o' rocks in this neighborhood."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, she would just suit a lot of men!" Jane said,
+in a tone which indicated the very lowest estimation
+of her brother-in-law's opinion. "It takes women
+to size up women. I want to meet the old thing now,
+just to show her that I'm still alive and kicking."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jane had this opportunity sooner than she expected.
+Dr. Putnam had enjoined upon her a certain
+amount of physical exercise, and so one afternoon,
+shortly after getting back, she walked slowly
+down to Wilson's store. It was on her return
+homeward, while passing a portion of Ann's pasture,
+where the latter, with pencil and paper in hand, was
+laying out some ditches for drainage, that she saw
+her opportunity.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Now, if she don't turn and run, I'll get a whack
+at her," she chuckled. "It will literally kill the old
+thing to see me walking so spry."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Thereupon, in advancing, Jane quickened her step,
+putting a sort of jaunty swing to her whole gaunt
+frame. With only the worm fence and its rough
+clothing of wild vines and briers between them, the
+women met face to face. There was a strange,
+unaggressive wavering in Ann's eyes, but her enemy
+did not heed it.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Ah ha!" she cried. "I reckon this is some surprise
+to you, Ann Boyd! I reckon you won't brag
+about being such a wonderful health prophet now!
+I was told down in Atlanta—by <em class="italics">experts</em>, mind you—that
+my heart and lungs were as sound as a dollar,
+and that, counting on the long lives of my folks on
+both sides, I'm good for fifty years yet."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Huh! I never gave any opinion on how long
+you'd live, that I know of," Ann said, sharply.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You didn't, heigh? You didn't, that day at the
+wash-place when you stood over me and shook your
+finger in my face and said you knew what my trouble
+was, and was waiting to see it get me down? Now,
+I reckon you remember!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't remember saying one word about your
+cancer, if that's what you are talking about," Ann
+sniffed. "I couldn't 'a' said anything about it, for
+I didn't know you had it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Now, I know <em class="italics">that's</em> not so; you are just trying
+to take backwater, because you are beat. That
+peddler that examined me and sold me a bottle of
+medicine went right to your house, and you pumped
+him dry as to my condition."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Huh! he said you just had a stiff arm," said Ann.
+"I wasn't alluding to that at all."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You say you wasn't, then what was you talking
+about? I'd like to know."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, that's for me to know and you to find
+out," Ann said, goaded to anger. "I don't have to
+tell you all I know and think. Now, you go on
+about your business, Jane Hemingway, and let me
+alone."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I'll never let you alone as long as there's a
+breath left in my body," Jane snarled. "You know
+what you are; you are a disgrace to the county.
+You are a close-fisted, bad woman—as bad as they
+make them. You ought to be drummed out of the
+community, and you would be, too, if you didn't
+have so much ill-gotten gains laid up."</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was a pause, for Jane was out of breath.
+Ann leaned over the fence, crushing her sheet of
+paper in her tense fingers. "I'll tell you something,"
+she said, her face white, her eyes flashing
+like those of a powerful beast goaded to desperation
+by an animal too small and agile to reach—"I'll tell
+you one thing. For reasons of my own I've tried
+to listen to certain spiritual advice about loving
+enemies. Jesus Christ laid the law down, but He
+lived before you was born, Jane Hemingway.
+There isn't an angel at God's throne to-day that
+could love you. I'd as soon try to love a hissing
+rattlesnake, standing coiled in my path, as such a
+dried-up bundle of devilment as you are. Could I
+hit back at you now? <em class="italics">Could</em> I? Huh! I could tell
+you something, you old fool, that would humble you
+in the dust at my feet and make you crawl home with
+your nose to the earth like a whipped dog. And I
+reckon I'm a fool not to do it, when you are pushing
+me this way. You come to gloat over me because
+your rotten body feels a little bit stronger than it
+did. I could make you forget your dirty carcass.
+I could make you so sick at the soul you'd vomit a
+prayer for mercy every minute the rest of your life.
+But I won't do it, as mad as I am. I'll not do it.
+You go your way, and I'll go mine."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jane Hemingway stared wildly. The light of triumph
+had died out in her thin, superstitious face.
+She leaned, as if for needed support, on the fence
+only a few feet from her enemy. Superstition was
+her weakest point, and it was only natural now for
+her to fall under its spell. She recalled Ann's fierce
+words prophesying some mysterious calamity which
+was to overtake her, and placed them beside the
+words she had just had hurled at her, and their combined
+effect was deadening.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You think you know lots," she found herself
+saying, mechanically.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I know what I <em class="italics">know</em>!" Ann retorted, still
+furious. "You go on about your business. You'd
+better let me alone, woman. Some day I may fasten
+these two hands around that scrawny neck of yours
+and shake some decency into you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jane shrank back instinctively. She was less influenced,
+however, by the threat of bodily harm than
+by the sinister hint, now looming large in her imagination,
+that had preceded it. Ann was moving
+away, and she soon found herself left alone with
+thoughts which made any but agreeable companions.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What can the woman mean?" she muttered, as
+she slowly pursued her way. "Maybe she's just
+doing that to worry me. But no, she was in earnest—dead
+in earnest—both times. She never says things
+haphazard; she's no fool, either. It must be something
+simply awful or she wouldn't mention it just
+that way. Now, I'm going to let <em class="italics">this</em> take hold of
+me and worry me night and day like the cancer
+did."</p>
+<p class="pnext">She paused and stood in the road panting, her
+hand, by force of habit, resting on her breast. Looking
+across the meadow, she saw Ann Boyd sturdily
+trudging homeward through the waist-high bulrushes.
+The slanting rays of the sun struck the
+broad back of the hardy outcast and illumined the
+brown cotton-land which stretched on beyond her
+to the foot of the mountain. Jane Hemingway
+caught her breath and moved on homeward, pondering
+over the mystery which was now running rife in
+her throbbing brain. Yes, it was undoubtedly something
+terrible—but what? That was the question—what?</p>
+<p class="pnext">Reaching home, she was met at the door by Virginia,
+who came forward solicitously to take her
+shawl. A big log-fire, burning in the wide chimney
+of the sitting-room, lighted it up with a red glow.
+Jane sank into her favorite chair, listlessly holding
+in her hands the small parcel of green coffee she had
+bought at the store.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Let me have it," Virginia said. "I must parch
+it and grind it for supper. The coffee is all out."</p>
+<p class="pnext">As the girl moved away with the parcel, Jane's
+eyes followed her. "Should she tell her daughter
+what had taken place?" she asked herself. Perhaps
+a younger, fresher mind could unravel the grave
+puzzle. But how could she bring up the matter
+without betraying the fact that she had been the
+aggressor? No, she must simply nurse her new
+fears in secret for a while and hope for—well, what
+could she hope for, anyway? She lowered her head,
+her sharp elbows on her knees, and stared into the
+fire. Surely fate was against her, and it was never
+intended for her to get the best of Ann Boyd in
+any encounter. Through all her illness she had been
+buoyed up by the triumphant picture of Ann Boyd's
+chagrin at seeing her sound of body again, and this
+had been the result. Instead of humiliating Ann,
+Ann had filled her quaking soul with a thousand
+intangible, rapidly augmenting fears. The cloud of
+impending disaster stretched black and lowering
+across Jane Hemingway's horizon.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Sam came in with a bundle of roots in his arms,
+and laid them carefully on a shelf. "I've dug me
+some sassafras of the good, red variety," he said,
+over his shoulder, to her. "You folks that want to
+can spend money at drug stores, but in the fall of
+the year, if I drink plenty of sassafras tea instead
+of coffee, it thins my blood and puts me in apple-pie
+order. But I reckon you don't want <em class="italics">your</em> blood any
+thinner than them doctors left it. Right now you
+look as flabby and limber as a wet rag. What ails
+you, <em class="italics">anyway</em>?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I reckon I walked too far, right at the start,"
+Jane managed to fish from her confused mind. "I'm
+going to be more careful in the future."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, you'd better," Sam opined. "You may
+not find folks as ready to invest in your burial outfit
+as they was to prevent you from needing one."</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="xxxii">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id33">XXXII</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">The following morning, in her neatest
+dress and white sun-bonnet, Virginia
+walked to Wilson's store to buy some
+sewing-thread. She was on her way
+back, and was traversing the most sequestered
+part of the road, where a brook of clear
+mountain water ran rippling by, and an abundance
+of willows and reeds hid the spot from view of any
+one approaching, when she was startled by Langdon
+Chester suddenly appearing before her from behind
+a big, moss-grown bowlder.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Don't run, Virginia—for God's sake don't run!"
+he said, humbly. "I simply <em class="italics">must</em> speak to you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But I told you I didn't want to meet you again,"
+Virginia answered, sternly. "Why won't you leave
+me alone? If I've acted the fool and lowered myself
+in my estimation for all the rest of my life, that
+ought to be enough. It is as much as I can stand.
+You've simply got to stop following me up."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You don't understand, Virginia," he pleaded.
+"You admit you feel different since that night;
+grant the same to me. I've passed through absolute
+torment. I thought, after you talked to me
+so angrily the last time I saw you, that I could forget
+it if I left. I went to Atlanta, but I suffered
+worse than ever down there. I was on the verge
+of suicide. You see, I learned how dear you had
+become to me."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Bosh! I don't believe a word of it!" Virginia retorted,
+her eyes flashing, though her face was deathly
+pale. "I don't believe any man could really care
+for a girl and treat her as you did me that night.
+God knows I did wrong—a wrong that will never
+be undone, but I did it for the sake of my suffering
+mother. That's the only thing I have to lessen my
+self-contempt, and that is little; but you—you—oh,
+I don't want to talk to you! I want to blot it all—everything
+about it—from my mind."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But you haven't heard me through," he said,
+advancing a step nearer to her, his face ablaze with
+admiration and unsatisfied passion. "I find that
+I simply can't live without you, and as for what
+happened that awful night, I've come to wipe it
+out in the most substantial way a self-respecting
+man can. I've come to ask you to marry me,
+Virginia—to be my wife."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"To be your wife!" she gasped. "Me—you—<em class="italics">we</em>
+marry—you and I? Live together, as—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, dear, that's what I mean. I know you are
+a good, pure girl, and I am simply miserable without
+you. No human being could imagine the depth
+of my love. It has simply driven me crazy, along
+with the way you have acted lately. My father
+and mother may object, but it's got to be done,
+and it will all blow over. Now, Virginia, what will
+you say? I leave it all to you. You may name
+the place and time—I'm your slave from now on.
+Your wonderful grace and beauty have simply
+captured me. I'll do the best I can to hold up my
+end of the thing. My cousin, Chester Sively, is a
+good sort of chap, and, to be frank, when he saw
+how miserable I was down there, he drew it out of
+me. I told him my folks would object and make
+it hot for me, but that I could not live without you,
+and he advised me to come straight home and propose
+to you. You see, he thought perhaps I had
+offended you in not making my intentions plainer
+at the start, and that when you knew how I felt
+you would not be so hard on me. Now, you are
+not going to be, are you, little girl? After all those
+delicious walks we used to have, and the things
+you have at least let me believe, I know you won't
+go back on me. Oh, we'll have a glorious time!
+Chester will advance me some money, I am sure,
+and we'll take a trip. We'll sail from Savannah
+to New York and stay away, by George, till the old
+folks come to their senses. I admit I was wrong
+in all that miserable business. I ought to have
+given you that money and not made you come for
+it, but being a mad fool like that once doesn't
+prove I can't turn over a new leaf. Now, you try
+me."</p>
+<p class="pnext">He advanced towards her, his hand extended to
+clasp hers, but she suddenly drew back.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I couldn't think of marrying you," she said,
+almost under her breath. "I couldn't under any
+possible circumstances."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, Virginia, you don't mean that!" he cried,
+crestfallen. "You are still mad about being—being
+frightened that night, and that old hag finding out
+about it. No woman would relish having another
+come up at just such an awkward moment and get
+her vile old head full of all sorts of unfair notions.
+But this, you see—you are old enough to see that
+marriage actually puts everything straight, even to
+the bare possibility of anything ever leaking out.
+That's why I think you will act sensibly."</p>
+<p class="pnext">To his surprise, Virginia, without looking at him,
+covered her face with her hands. He saw her pretty
+shoulders rise as if she had smothered a sob. Hoping
+that she was moved by the humility and earnestness
+of his appeal, he caught one of her hands gently
+and started to pull it from her face. But, to his
+surprise, she shrank back and stared straight and
+defiantly in his eyes.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That's the way <em class="italics">you</em> look at it!" she cried, indignantly.
+"You think I hopelessly compromised
+myself by what I did, and that I'll have to tie myself
+to you for life in consequence; but I won't.
+I'd rather die. I couldn't live with you. I hate
+you! I detest you! I hate and detest you because
+you've made me detest myself. To think that I
+have to stand here listening to a proposal in—in
+the humiliating way you make it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Look here, Virginia, you are going too far!" he
+cried, white with the dawning realization of defeat
+and quivering in every limb. "You are no fool, if
+you <em class="italics">are</em> only a girl, and you know that a man in—well,
+in my position, will not take a thing like this
+calmly. I've been desperate, and I hardly knew
+what I was about, but this—I can't stand this, Virginia."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I couldn't marry you," she answered.
+"If you were a king and I a poor beggar, I wouldn't
+agree to be your wife. I'd never marry a man I
+did not thoroughly respect, and I don't respect you
+a bit. In fact, knowing you has only shown me
+how fine and noble, by contrast, other men are.
+Since this thing happened, one man—" She suddenly
+paused. Her impulse had led her too far.
+He glared at her for an instant, and then suddenly
+grasped her hand and held it in such a tight, brutal
+clasp that she writhed in pain, but he held onto it,
+twisting it in his unconscious fury.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I know who you mean," he said. "I see it all
+now. You have seen Luke King, and he has been
+saying sweet things to you. Ann Boyd is his friend,
+too, and she hates me. But look here, if you think
+I will stand having a man of that stamp defeat me,
+you don't know me. You don't know the lengths
+a Chester will go to gain a point. I see it all.
+You've been different of late. You used to like
+him, and he has been talking to you since he got
+back. It will certainly be a dark day for him when
+he dares to step between me and my plans."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You are going entirely too fast," Virginia said,
+grown suddenly cautious. "There's nothing, absolutely
+nothing, between Luke King and myself, and,
+moreover, there never will be."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You may tell that to a bigger fool than I am,"
+Chester fumed. "I know there is something between
+you two, and, frankly, trouble is brewing for
+him. He may write his long-winded sermons about
+loving mankind, and bask in the praise of the sentimental
+idiots who dote on him, but I'll draw him
+back to practical things. I'll bring him down to
+the good, old-fashioned way of settling matters between
+men."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, it's cowardly of you to keep me here by
+brute force," Virginia said, finally wresting her
+hand from his clasp and beginning to walk onward.
+"I've said there is nothing between him and me,
+and I shall not repeat it. If you want to raise a
+fuss over it, you will only make yourself ridiculous."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I'll look after <em class="italics">that</em> part of it," he cried,
+beside himself with rage. "No mountain razor-back
+stripe of man like he is can lord it over me,
+simply because the scum of creation is backing up
+his shallow ideas with money. <em class="italics">I'll</em> open his eyes."</p>
+<p class="pnext">And Langdon Chester, too angry and disappointed
+to be ashamed of himself, stood still and allowed
+her to go on her way. A boy driving a drove of
+mules turned the bend of the road, and Chester
+stepped aside, but when they had passed he stood
+still and watched Virginia as she slowly pursued
+her way.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Great God, how am I to stand it?" he groaned.
+"I want her! I want her! I'd work for her. I'd
+slave for her. I'd do anything under high heaven
+to be able to call her my own—all my own! My
+God, isn't she beautiful? That mouth, that proud
+poise of head, that neck and breast and form!
+Were there ever such eyes set in a human head
+before—such a maddening lip, such a—oh, I
+can't stand it! I wasn't made for defeat like this.
+Marry her? I'd marry her if it impoverished every
+member of my family. I'd marry her if the honeymoon
+ended in my death. At any rate, I would
+have lived awhile. Does Luke King intend to marry
+her? Of course he does—he has <em class="italics">seen</em> her; but <em class="italics">shall</em>
+he? No, there is one thing certain, and that is that
+I could never live and know that she was receiving
+another man's embraces. I'd kill him if it damned
+me eternally. And yet I've played my last and biggest
+card. She won't marry me. She would <em class="italics">once</em>,
+but she won't <em class="italics">now</em>. Yes, I'm facing a big, serious
+thing, but I'll face it. If he tries to get her, the
+world will simply be too small for both of us to
+live in together."</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="xxxiii">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id34">XXXIII</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">The following morning, after spending
+a restless, troublous night in reflecting
+over the protestations and threats
+of Langdon Chester, Virginia went frequently
+to the rear door of the house
+and looked out towards Ann Boyd's domicile in
+the hope of seeing her new friend. It was a cool,
+bleak day. The skies were veiled in thin, low-hanging,
+gray clouds which seemed burdened with
+snow, and sharp gusts of wind bore the smoke from
+the chimney down to the earth and around the
+house in lingering, bluish wisps. Finally her fitful
+watch met its reward, and she saw Ann emerge
+from her house and trudge down towards the cotton-field
+between the two farms. Hastily looking into
+the kitchen, and seeing that her mother was busily
+engaged mashing some boiled sweet-potatoes into
+a pulpy mixture of sugar, butter, and spices, with
+which to make some pies, Virginia slipped out of
+the house and into the cow-lot. Here she paused
+for a moment, her glance on the doorway through
+which she had passed, and then, seeing that her
+leaving had not attracted her mother's attention,
+she climbed over the rail-fence and entered the
+dense thicket near by. Through this tangle of
+vines, bushes, and briers she slowly made her way,
+until, suddenly, the long, regular rows of Ann's
+dead cotton-stalks, with their empty boles and
+withered leaves, stretched out before her. And
+there stood Ann, crumbling a sample of the gray
+soil in her big, red hand. She heard Virginia's approach
+over the dry twigs of the wood, and looked
+up.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, it's you!" she exclaimed. "I didn't know
+but what it was another catamount that had got
+out of its beat up in the mountains and strayed
+down into civilization."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I happened to see you leave your house and
+come this way," Virginia said, somewhat embarrassed,
+"and so I—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, I came down here to take one more look
+at this field and make up my mind whether to have
+it turned under for wheat or try its strength on
+cotton again. There was a lots of fertilizer put on
+this crop, child. I can always tell by the feel of
+the dirt. That's the ruination of farming interests
+in the South. It's the get-a-crop-quick plan that
+has no solid foundation. An industrious German
+or Irishman can make more off of an acre than we
+can off of ten, and be adding value to the property
+each year. But did you want to see me about—anything
+particular?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It seems like I'm born to have trouble," Virginia
+answered, with heightening color and a studious
+avoidance of the old woman's keen glance.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I see; I reckon your mother—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, it's not about her," Virginia interrupted.
+"In fact, it's something that I could not confide in
+her."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, you go ahead and tell me about it," Ann
+said, consolingly, as she threw the sample of soil
+down and wiped her hand on her apron. "I think
+it's powerful odd the way things have turned
+around, anyway. Only a few days ago if anybody
+had told me I'd ever be half-way friendly with a
+daughter of Jane Hemingway, I'd have thought
+they was clean off their base. I'm trying to act
+the impartial friend to you, child, but I don't know
+that I can. The trouble is, my flesh is too weak.
+It's only fair to tell you that I come in the breadth
+of a hair the other day of betraying you outright
+to your mammy. She met me down the road and
+drove me too far. She caught me off my guard and
+came at me in her old, catlike way, spitting and
+snarling—a thing I'm not proof against. She was
+gloating over me. I'm ashamed to say it to a sweet,
+trusting face like yours, but she came charging on
+me at such a rate that she drove away my best intentions
+and made me plumb forget what I was
+trying to do for you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ann hung her head for a moment, almost sheepishly
+kicking a cotton-stalk from its mellow hill
+with the toe of her shoe.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Don't bother about that," Virginia said, sweetly.
+"I know how she can exasperate any one."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I'm satisfied I won't do to trust in the
+capacity of a friend, anyway," Ann said, frankly.
+"I reckon I would be safe with anybody but that
+woman. There is no use telling you what I said,
+but I come in an inch of giving you plumb away.
+I come that nigh injuring a pure, helpless little
+thing like you are to hit her one sousing lick. As
+it was, I think I cowed her considerable. She's
+superstitious, and she broods as much over an
+imaginary trouble as a real one. The Lord knows
+I've been busy enough in my life tackling the
+genuine thing."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I wanted to tell you," Virginia said, "that ever
+since Langdon Chester got back from Atlanta he
+has been trying to meet me, and—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"The dirty scamp!" Ann broke in, angrily. "I
+told him if he ever dared to—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Wait a minute, Mrs. Boyd!" Virginia put out
+her hand and touched the old woman's arm. "He
+seems awfully upset over what has happened. I
+never saw any one change so completely. He looked
+very thin, his eyes were bloodshot, and he shook
+all over like a man who has been on a long spree.
+Mrs. Boyd, he came—and I'm sure he was serious—to
+ask me to marry him."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Marry him? Why, child, you don't mean <em class="italics">that</em>—surely
+you don't mean—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I only know what he said," Virginia declared.
+"He says he is absolutely miserable over it all and
+wants me to marry him. His cousin, Chester Sively,
+advised him to propose to me, and he did. He says
+he loves me, and that nothing else will satisfy him."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, well, well!" Ann exclaimed, as her great,
+astonished eyes bore down on Virginia's face. "I
+thought he was a chip off of the old block, but maybe
+he's got a little streak of good in him, and yet, let
+me study a minute. Let's walk on down to the
+spring. I want to see if it doesn't need a new gum—the
+old one is about rotted out. Well, well, well!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">They strolled along the fence, side by side, neither
+speaking till the spring was reached. There was a
+rustic bench near by, and Ann sat down on it, putting
+out her hand and drawing the girl to a seat at
+her side.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, there may be a streak of good," she went
+on. "And yet that may be just another phase of
+bad. You must be very careful, child. You have
+no idea how beautiful you are. He may mean what
+he says, all right enough, but maybe he isn't being
+led by the best motive. I know men, I reckon, about
+as well as any other woman of my age. Now, you
+see, it may be like this: Langdon Chester brought
+to his aid all the <em class="italics">foul</em> means he could command to
+carry his point and failed. Maybe, now, he's just
+reckless enough and his pride is cut deep enough to
+make him resort to fair means rather than be plumb
+beat to a finish. If that's so, marrying him would
+be a very risky thing, for as soon as his evil fires
+smouldered he'd leave you high and dry. He'd convince
+himself he'd married below his standard, and
+go to the dogs—or some other woman. Sometimes
+I think there isn't no real love, like we read about
+in story-books. I believe a man or a woman will
+love their own offspring in a solid, self-sacrificing
+way, but the sort of love that makes a continuous
+happy dream of marriage is powerful rare. It's
+generally one-sided and like a damp fire that takes
+a lot of fanning and fresh kindling-wood to keep
+going. But what did you tell him, I wonder?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, I refused him," Virginia answered.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You did? You don't tell me! And how did his
+high and mighty lordship take that, I wonder?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It made him awfully mad. He almost swore at
+me, and took hold of my hand roughly. Then, from
+something I happened to say, he imagined that I
+was in love with—with some one else, and he made
+awful threats of what he might do."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Ah, I see, I see, I see!" Ann muttered, as if to
+herself, her slow, thoughtful glance on her broad
+lands, which stretched out through the murky atmosphere.
+"It's wonderful how much your life is like
+mine used to be. The other night, lying in bed, I
+got to studying over it all, and it suddenly flashed
+on me that maybe it is the divine intention that I
+was to travel that rough road so I'd know how to
+lead you, that was to come on later, over the pits
+I stumbled in. And with that thought I felt a
+strange sort of peaceful contentment come over me.
+You see, I'm nearly always in a struggle against
+my inclination to treat Jane Hemingway's daughter
+half decent, and such thoughts as those kind o' ease
+my pride. If the Lord is making me pity you and
+like you, maybe it's the devil that is trying to pull
+me the other way. That's why I'm afraid I won't
+do to trust, wavering about like I am. In this fight
+I haven't the slightest idea which influence is going
+to win in the end. In a tight pinch I may be
+tempted to use our very friendship to get even with
+your mammy. When she faces me with that confident
+look in her eye and that hateful curl to her lip,
+I loose my grip on all that's worth a red cent in me."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You couldn't do a wrong thing to save your
+life," said Virginia, putting out her hand and taking
+that of her companion.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Don't you bet too high stakes on that," Ann
+replied, deeply touched. "I'm no saint. Right
+now I'm at daggers' points with nearly every neighbor
+I've got, and even my own child over the mountain.
+How I ever got this way with you is a mystery
+to me. You certainly were the last one I'd 'a' lifted
+a finger to help, but now—well, well—I reckon I'd
+worry a lots if you met with any further misfortune.
+But you are keeping back something, child. Did
+Langdon Chester seem to think that other '<em class="italics">somebody</em>'
+could possibly be Luke King?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Virginia flushed and nodded. "He seemed to
+think so, Mrs. Boyd."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ann sighed. She was still holding Virginia's hand,
+and she now began timidly to caress it as it lay on
+her knee.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't like the way it's turned out a bit," she
+said. "The Chester stock can't stand being balked
+in anything; they couldn't bear to be beat in love
+by a poor, self-made man like Luke, and great, big
+trouble may be brewing. Langdon might push a
+row on him. Luke is writing all sorts of things
+against the evil of war and fighting and the like, but
+under pressure he'd resent an insult. I'd hate to
+see him plumb mad. Then, again, Langdon might
+sink low enough to actually throw that imprudence
+of yours at him. If he did, that would be a match
+to powder. If Luke was a preacher and stood in
+the pulpit calling up mourners, he'd step down and
+act on that sort of an invitation. Virginia, if ever
+a man loved a woman, he loves you. His love is one
+of the exceptions to the rule I was talking about just
+now, and it seems to me that, no matter how you
+treat a man like that other scamp, you won't have
+a right to refuse Luke King. The truth is, I'm afraid
+he never could stand it. He's set his great, big, gentle
+soul on having you for his helpmeet, and I don't
+believe you will let any silly notion ruin it all.
+He's got brain enough to tackle the biggest human
+problems and settle them, but he'll never give his
+heart out but once."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Virginia withdrew her hand and swept it across
+her face, as if to brush away the flush upon it.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I can never be his wife," she faltered. She
+paused, turned her face away, and said, in a low tone:
+"I am not good enough. I deliberately flirted with
+Langdon Chester. I used to love to have him say
+sweet things to me, and I led him on. I've no excuse
+to make. If I had been good enough to be the
+wife of a man like Luke King, I'd never have been
+caught in that trap, even to save my mother, for if
+I'd acted differently he'd never have done what he
+did. It's all my fault. If Langdon Chester is upset
+and bent on trouble, I'm the cause of it. If it results
+in unhappiness to the—to the noblest and
+best man I ever knew, it will all be my fault. You
+needn't try to comfort me, Mrs. Boyd. I tell you I'd
+rather die than have Luke King know all that has
+happened, and God knows I'd never be his wife
+otherwise. So that is the end of it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ann was silent for several minutes, then she said:
+"I feel like you are wrong somehow, and yet I don't
+exactly know how to make you see it my way. We
+must both study over it. It's a problem, and no
+little one. There is one thing certain: I'll never
+advise you to start married life on deception of any
+kind. I tried that, with the best intentions, and
+it was the worst investment I ever made."</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="xxxiv">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id35">XXXIV</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">During this conversation Sam Hemingway
+had returned to the house
+from his field. He had an armful of
+white, silky, inside leaves of cornhusks
+closely packed together, and these he
+submerged in a washtub full of water, in the back-yard,
+placing stones on them to hold them down.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What are you about now?" his sister-in-law
+asked, as she appeared in the doorway of the
+kitchen.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Now, what could a body be about when he's
+wetting a passle of shucks?" he answered, dryly.
+"I'm going to make me some stout horse-collars
+for spring ploughing. There ain't but one other
+thing a body could make out of wet shucks, and
+that's foot-mats for town folks to wipe their feet
+on. Foot-mats are a dead waste of money, for if
+fewer mats was used, women would have to do more
+sweeping and not get time to stand around the post-office
+watching men as much as they do. I reckon
+it's the way old daddy Time has of shifting women's
+work onto men's shoulders. I'll bet my hat that
+new-fangled churn that fellow passed with yesterday
+was invented by a man out o' pure pity for
+his sex."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I was wondering where Virginia went to," Jane
+said, as if she had not heard his philosophical utterances.
+"I've been all round the house looking for
+her, even to the barn, but she's disappeared entirely."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Sam shrugged his shoulders significantly. He
+placed the last stone on the submerged husks and
+drew himself up erect. "I was just studying," he
+drawled out, "whether it ud actually do to tell you
+where she is at this minute. I'd decided I'd better
+not, and go on and finish this work. From what I
+know about your odd disposition, I'd expect one of
+two solitary things: I'd expect to see you keel over
+in a dead faint or stand stock-still in your tracks
+and burn to a cinder from internal fires."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Sam, what do you mean?" The widow, in no
+little alarm, came towards him, her eyes fixed
+steadily on his.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I reckon you might as well know and be
+done with it," he said, "though you'll be sure to let
+them pies burn afterwards. Jane, your only child
+is right now a-sitting on the bench at the gum spring,
+side by side with Ann Boyd. In fact, as well as I
+could see from the rise I was on in my potato-patch,
+I'd 'a' took my oath that they was holding hands
+like two sweethearts."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't believe a word of it," Jane gasped, turning
+pale. "It might have been Virginia with somebody
+else, but not <em class="italics">that</em> woman."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I wouldn't mistake Ann Boyd's solid shape and
+blue linsey frock ten miles off," was the cold comfort
+Sam dispensed in his next remark. "If you
+doubt what I say, and will agree not to jump on
+Ann and get yourself drawed up at court for assault
+and battery, with intent to <em class="italics">get killed</em>, you may go
+look for yourself. If you'll slip through the thicket,
+you can come up on 'em unbeknownst."</p>
+<p class="pnext">With a very grave look on her emaciated face,
+Jane Hemingway, without wrap for her thin shoulders
+or covering for her gray head, strode across
+the yard and into the bushes. Almost holding her
+breath in dire suspense and with a superstitious
+fear of she knew not what, she sped through the
+wood, briers and thorn-bushes clutching at her
+skirt and wild grape-vines striking her abreast and
+detaining her. Presently she was near enough to
+the spring to hear voices, but was, as yet, unable to
+see who was speaking. Then she became fearful
+lest the dry twigs with which the ground was strewn,
+in breaking under her feet, would betray her presence,
+and she began, with the desperate caution of
+a convict escaping from prison, to select her way,
+carefully stepping from one patch of green moss to
+another. A few paces ahead of her there was a
+group of tall pines, and the earth beneath their
+skeleton boughs was a veritable bed of soft, brown
+needles. She soon gained this favorable point of
+progress, and sped onward as noiselessly as the gentle
+breeze overhead. Suddenly, through the bushes,
+she caught a gleam of color, and recognized the
+dark-blue skirt Ann Boyd wore so constantly, and—her
+heart stood still, for, massed against it, was
+the light gray of Virginia's dress. Ah, there could
+be no shadow of a doubt now. Sam was right, and
+with bowed head and crouching form Jane gave bewildered
+ear to words which caused her blood to
+stand still in her veins.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, I've thought a lots about it, child," she
+heard Ann saying. "I can't make it out at all,
+but I really love you more than I do my own
+daughter. I reckon it was the divine intention for
+me and you to have this secret between us, and pity
+one another like we do. I can't help it, but when
+you tell me you love me and think I'm good and
+the best friend you've got on earth, why, it is the
+sweetest sound that ever fell on human ear."</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was a pause. Jane Hemingway held her
+breath; her very soul hung on the silence. Then,
+as if from the dun skies above the shaft descended,
+as if dropped from the lips of the Avenging Angel.
+It was the child of her own breast uttering sounds
+as inexplicable, as damning to her hopes, as if the
+gentle, tractable girl had approached her bed in the
+dead hours of night and said: "Mother, I've come to
+kill you. There is no way out of it. I must take
+your life. I am stronger than you. You must submit.
+Ann Boyd has willed it so. Mother, I am
+Retribution!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, I do love you, with all my heart," were the
+words Jane heard. "I can't help it. You have been
+kinder to me, more considerate of my feelings, than
+my own mother. But I will make amends for all
+her cruelty towards you. I'll love you always. I'll
+go to my grave loving you. You are the best woman
+that ever lived. Suffering has raised you to the
+skies. I have never kissed you. Let me now—<em class="italics">do,
+do</em> let me!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">As if in a horrible dream, Jane Hemingway
+turned back homeward. Without knowing why,
+she still moved with the same breathless caution.
+Hers was a dead soul dragging a body vitalized
+only by sheer animal instinct to escape torture. To
+escape it? No, it was there ahead—it was here,
+encompassing her like a net, yonder, behind, everywhere,
+and it would stretch out to the end of time.
+She told her benumbed consciousness that she saw
+it all now. It was not the cancer and its deadly
+effect that Ann had held over her that hot day at
+the wash-place. No wonder that Ann had not told
+her all, for that would have marred her comprehensive
+and relentless plans. Ann's subtle plot had
+been to rob her enemy of the respect and love of
+her only child. Jane had succeeded in tearing from
+Ann Boyd's arms her only offspring, and Ann, with
+the cunning of her great, indefatigable brain, had
+devised this subtle revenge and carried it through.
+She had won over to herself the love and respect,
+even reverence, of her enemy's child. It had been
+going on in secret for a long time, and even now the
+truth was out only by sheer accident. Jane Hemingway
+groaned aloud in agony and self-pity as,
+with her gray head down, she groped homeward.
+What was there to do now? Nothing! She was
+learning her final grim lesson in the realization that
+she was no possible match for her rival. How well
+she now recalled the fierce words Ann had hurled
+at her only a few days since: "Could I hit back at
+you now? Could I? Huh! I could tell you something,
+Jane Hemingway, that would humble you
+to the dust and make you crawl home with your
+nose to the earth like a whipped dog." Ah, it
+was true, only too true! Humbled? It was more
+than that. Pride, hope, even resentment, was gone.
+She now cowered before her enemy as she had so
+recently before death itself. For once she keenly
+felt her own supreme littleness and stood in absolute
+awe of the mighty personality she had been so
+long and audaciously combating.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Reaching the fence which bounded her own property,
+Jane got over it with difficulty. She seemed
+to have lost all physical strength. She saw Sam
+behind the house, under the spreading, leafless
+boughs of an apple-tree, repairing a break in the
+ash-hopper. She could not have explained what
+impulse prompted it, but she paused in front of
+him, speaking in a tone he had never heard from
+her before. "Sam," she said, a stare like the glaze
+of death in her eyes, "don't you mention this to
+my child; do you hear me? Don't you tell Virginia
+what we've found out. If you do you'll get your
+foot into something you'll be sorry for. Do you
+hear me, man? This is my business—<em class="italics">mine</em>, and not
+a thing for you to treat lightly. If you know what's
+good for you, you'll take my hint and not meddle."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I never!" Sam exclaimed. "Good Lord,
+woman, what have them two folks done to you
+down there. I never saw you look so plumb flabbergasted
+in my life."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Never you mind about that," Jane said. "You
+remember what I said and don't meddle with what
+doesn't concern you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, she kin bet I won't," Sam mused, as he
+stood looking after her, as she disappeared through
+the doorway into the kitchen. "This is one of the
+times, I reckon, that I'll take her advice. Some'n'
+big has taken place, or is about to take place, if I'm
+any judge."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jane sank into a chair in the kitchen and softly
+groaned as she cast her slow eyes about her. Here
+all seemed sheer mockery. Every mute object in
+the room uttered a cry against her. The big, open
+fireplace, with its pots and kettles, the cupboard,
+the cleanly polished table, with the row of hot pies
+Sam had rescued from the coals and placed there to
+cool, the churn, the milk and butter-jars and pans,
+the pepper-pods hanging to the smoked rafters
+overhead—all these things, which had to do with
+mere subsistence, seemed suddenly out of place
+among the things which really counted. Suddenly
+Jane had a faint thrill of hope, as a thought, like a
+stray gleam of light penetrating a dark chamber,
+came to her. Perhaps, when Virginia was told that
+Ann Boyd had only used her as a tool in a gigantic
+and subtle scheme of revenge against her own flesh
+and blood, the girl would turn back to her own.
+Perhaps, but it was not likely. Ann Boyd had
+never failed in any deliberate undertaking. She
+would not now, and, for aught Jane knew to the
+contrary, Virginia might be as confirmed already
+in her enmity as the older woman, and had long
+been a dutiful and observant spy. It was horrible,
+but—yes, Jane was willing to admit that it was fair.
+The worm had turned, and its sting was equal to
+the concentrated pain of all Ann Boyd's years of
+isolated sufferings.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="xxxv">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id36">XXXV</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">In about half an hour Virginia returned
+home. She passed Sam under the
+apple-tree, where he now had a big
+pot full of shelled corn and lye over
+an incipient fire preparing to make
+whole-grained hominy, and hastened into the kitchen,
+where Jane sat bowed before the fire.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Is there anything I can do, mother?" she inquired.</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was a pause. Mrs. Hemingway did not
+look up. In some surprise, Virginia repeated her
+question, and then Jane said, calmly and deliberately:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes; there is something you can do. You can
+get out of my sight, and <em class="italics">keep</em> out of it. When I
+want anything from you, I'll call on you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Virginia paused, dumfounded, and then passed
+out into the yard and approached her uncle.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Can you tell me," she asked, "if anything has
+gone wrong with mother?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Sam gave her one swift glance from beneath his
+tattered, tent-shaped wool-hat, and then, with his
+paddle, he began to stir the corn and lye in the pot.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I reckon," he said, after a momentary struggle
+over a desire to tell the plain truth instead of prevaricating,
+"if you don't know that woman by this
+time, Virgie, it's your own fault. I'm sure I don't
+try to keep up with her tantrums and sudden notions.
+That woman's died forty-seven times in her life, and
+been laid out and buried ten. Maybe she's been
+tasting them pies she was cooking, and got crooked.
+You let a body's liver be at all sluggish and get a
+wad o' sweet-potato dough lodged inside of 'em,
+and they'll have a sort of jim-jams not brought on
+by liquor. I reckon she'll cough it down after
+a while. If I was you, though, I'd let her alone."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jane was, indeed, acting strangely. Refusing to
+sit down to the mid-day meal with them, as was
+her invariable custom, she put on her bonnet and
+shawl and, without a word of explanation, set off in
+the direction of Wilson's store. She was gone till
+dusk, and then came in with a slow step, passed
+through the sitting-room, where Sam had made a
+cheerful fire, and went on to her own room in the
+rear of the house. Virginia rose to follow her solicitously,
+but Sam put out a detaining hand, shifting
+his pipe into the corner of his mouth.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I'd let her alone if I was in your place," he said.
+"Let her go to bed and sleep. She'll get up all
+right in the morning."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I only wanted to see if there was anything I
+could do for her," Virginia said, in a troubled tone.
+"Do you suppose it is a relapse she is having?
+Perhaps she has discovered that the cancer is coming
+back. The fear of that would kill her, actually
+kill her."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't think that's it," said Sam, impulsively;
+"the truth is, Virginia, she—" He pulled himself up.
+"But maybe that <em class="italics">is</em> it. Anyway, I'd let her alone."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Darkness came down. Virginia spread the cloth
+in the big kitchen and put the plates and dishes in
+their places, and then slipped to the door of her
+mother's room. It was dark and still.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Supper is on the table, mother," she said; "do
+you want anything?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was a sudden creaking of the bed-slats, a
+pause, then, in a sullen, husky voice, Jane answered,
+"No, I <em class="italics">don't</em>; you leave me alone!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"All right, mother; I'm sorry to have disturbed
+you. Good-night."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Sam and his niece ate alone in the big room by
+the wavering light of the fire. The wind had risen
+on the mountain-top, and roared across the fields.
+It sang dolefully in the pines near by, whistled
+shrilly under the eaves of the house, and scurried
+through the open passage outside. After the meal
+was over, Sam smoked a pipe and thumped off to
+bed, carrying his shoes in his hand. Virginia buried
+the remains of the big back-log in the hot ashes, and
+in the darkness crept into her own room, adjoining
+that of her mother, and went to bed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jane Hemingway was not sleeping; she had no
+hope of a respite of that sort. She would have
+doubted that she ever could close her eyes in tranquillity
+till some settlement of the life-crushing
+matter was reached. What was to be done? Only
+one expedient had offered itself during her aimless
+walk to the store, where she purchased a spool of
+cotton thread she did not need, and during her slow
+return along the road and the further hours of
+solitude in her darkened chamber, and that expedient
+offered no balm for her gashed and torn pride.
+She could appeal to the law to protect her innocent
+daughter from the designing wiles of a woman of
+such a reputation as Ann Boyd bore, but, alas! even
+Ann might have foreseen that ruse and counted on
+its more deeply stirring Virginia's sympathies and
+adding to her faith. Why she had not at once
+denounced her child for her filial faithlessness she
+could not have explained, unless it was the superstitious
+dread of having Virginia's infidelity reconfirmed.
+Of course, she must fight. Yes, she'd have
+to do that to the end, although her shrewd enemy
+had already beaten her life-pulse dead in her veins
+and left her without a hope of adequate retaliation.
+Going to law meant also that it was her first public
+acknowledgment of her enemy's prowess, and it
+meant, too, the wide-spread and humiliating advertisement
+of the fact that Virginia had died to her
+and been born to the breast of her rival; but even
+that must be borne.</p>
+<p class="pnext">These morose reflections were broken, near midnight,
+by a step in the passage outside. The door
+was opened softly, and Virginia, in her night-robe,
+came in quietly and approached the bed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I know you are not asleep, mother," she said,
+tremulously. "I've heard you rolling and tossing
+ever since I went to bed."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jane stared from her hot pillow for an instant,
+and then slowly propped herself up on her gaunt,
+quivering elbow. "You are not asleep either, it
+seems," she said, hollowly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, I couldn't for thinking about you," Virginia
+replied, gently, as she sat down on the foot of the
+bed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You couldn't, huh! I say!" Jane sneered.
+"Huh, <em class="italics">you</em>! It's a pity about you!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I have reason to worry," Virginia said. "You
+know the doctors told you particularly not to get
+depressed and downhearted while you are recovering
+your strength."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Huh! what do they mean by prescribing things
+that can't be reached under the sun? They are
+idiots to think I could have peace of mind after
+finding out what I did this morning. I once had a
+cancer in the flesh; I've got one now in my heart,
+where no knife on earth can reach it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was a pause. The eyes of the mother and
+daughter met in the half-darkness of the room.
+There was a lull in the whistling of the wind outside.
+Under the floor a hen with a brood of chickens was
+clucking uneasily and flapping her wings in the effort
+to keep her brood warm. Across the passage came
+the rasping sound of Sam's snoring, as unconscious
+of tragedy as he had been in his cradle, and yet its
+creeping shadow lay over his placid features, its
+bated breath filled the air he was breathing. Virginia
+leaned forward wonderingly, her lips parted
+and set in anxiety.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You are thinking about the debt on the farm?"
+she ventured. "If that's it, mother, remember—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"The debt on this paltry shack and few acres of
+rocky land? Huh! if that was all I had to complain
+about I'd bounce out of this bed and shout for joy.
+Oh, Lord, have mercy on me!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Then, mother, what—" Virginia drew herself
+up with a start. Her mother, it now struck her,
+had said her trouble was due to a discovery she had
+made that morning. What else could it be than
+that her mother had accidentally seen her in company
+with Ann Boyd? Yes, that was it, and Virginia
+hastily told herself that some satisfying explanation
+must be made, some plausible and pacifying
+reason must be forthcoming that would allay
+her mother's anger, but it was hard to lie, in open
+words, as she had been doing in act. The gentle girl
+shuddered before the impending ordeal and clinched
+her hands in her lap. Yes, it was hard to lie, and
+yet the truth—the <em class="italics">whole</em> truth—was impossible.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Mother," she began, "you see—I suppose I'll
+have to confess to you that Mrs. Boyd and I—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Don't blacken your soul with lies!" her mother
+hurled at her, furiously. "I slipped up in a few
+feet of you both at the spring and saw you kissing
+her, and heard you tell her you loved her more than
+anybody in the world, and that she'd treated you
+better than I ever did, and that she was the best
+woman that ever lived. Explain all that, if you
+can, but don't set there and lie to me who gave you
+what life you've got, and toiled and stinted and
+worked my hands to the bone to raise, you and let
+you hold your own with others. If there's a speck
+of truth in you, don't deny what I saw with my own
+eyes and heard with my two ears."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I'll not deny it, then," Virginia said. She rose
+and moved to the small-paned window and stood
+with her face turned away. "I have met Mrs. Boyd
+several times and talked to her. I don't think she
+has ever had justice done her by you and her neighbors;
+she is not rightly understood, and, feeling that
+you have been all along the chief influence against
+her, and have always kept her early trouble stirred
+up, I felt like being her friend as well as I could,
+and at the same time remain true to you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, you poor, poor little sniffling idiot!" Jane
+said, as she drew her thin legs out from the coverings
+and rested her feet on the floor and leaned forward.
+"All this time you've been thinking, in your grand
+way, that you were doing a kindness to her, when
+she was just using you as a tool, to devil me. Huh!
+didn't she throw it up to me once at the wash-place
+where she and I met? She told me to my teeth that
+something was coming that would bring my face to
+the earth in shame. I thought she knew about the
+cancer, and was gloating over it; but she wasn't
+speaking of that, for when I came back from Atlanta,
+sound and whole, she hurled her hints at me again.
+She said she knew nothing about the cancer at that
+time, but that she still knew something that would
+make me slink from the faces of men and women
+like a whipped hound. I discovered what she meant
+to-day. She meant that because my testimony had
+something to do with Joe Boyd's leaving with <em class="italics">her</em>
+child, she had won over <em class="italics">mine</em> to herself. That's been
+her mean and sneaking plot all this time, in which
+she has been decoying you from a respectable roof
+and making you her easy tool—the tool with which
+she expected to stab at my pride and humble me
+in the eyes of everybody."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Mother, stop!" Virginia turned and sat down
+again on the bed. "That woman shall not have another—not
+one other—<em class="italics">false</em> charge piled up around
+her. God knows I don't see how I can tell you <em class="italics">all</em>
+the truth, but it is due to her now. It will more
+than justify her, and that's my duty. Listen, and
+don't interrupt me. I want to go straight through
+this, and when I have finished you may turn from
+me and force me to go to her for a home. You
+have never dreamed that I could do what I am about
+to confess I did. I am not going to excuse myself,
+either. What I did, I did. The shame of it, now
+that I see clearly, is killing me. No, stop! Let
+me go on. I have been receiving the attentions of
+Langdon Chester in secret. After the first time
+you saw us together and objected so strongly, I
+told him not to come to the house again; but, like
+many another silly girl, I was hungry for admiration,
+and met him elsewhere. I loved to hear the nice
+things he said, although I didn't always believe
+them. He—he tried to induce me to do a number
+of imprudent things, which, somehow, I was able
+to refuse, as they concerned my own pleasure alone;
+but then you began to worry about the money to
+go to Atlanta on. Day by day you grew more
+and more despondent and desperate as every effort
+failed, and one day, when you were down at the
+lowest ebb of hope, he told me that he—do you
+understand, mother?—Langdon Chester told me
+that he thought he could get up the money, but
+that no one must know that he—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, my God, don't, don't, don't!" Jane groaned.
+"Don't tell me that you—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Stop! let me go on," Virginia said, in a low,
+desperate tone. "I'm going to tell the whole horrible
+thing and be done with it forever. He said
+he had sent his best horse to Darley to sell it, and
+that the man would be back about ten o'clock at
+night with the money. He told me, mother, that
+he wanted me to slip away from home after you
+went to sleep and come there for the money. I
+didn't hesitate long. I wanted to save your life.
+I agreed. I might have failed to go after I parted
+with him if I'd had time to reflect, but when I came
+in to supper you were more desperate than ever.
+You went to your room praying and moaning, and
+kept it up till you dropped asleep only a few minutes
+before the appointed time. Well, I slipped
+away and—<em class="italics">went</em>."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, God have mercy on me—mercy, mercy,
+mercy!" Jane groaned. "You went there to that
+man!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Virginia nodded mutely and then continued her
+recital. Jane Hemingway's knees bent under her
+as she stood holding to the bedpost, and she slowly
+sank to the floor a few feet away. With a low,
+moaning sound like a suffering dumb brute, she
+crawled on her hands and knees to her daughter
+and mutely clutched the girl's cold, bare ankles.
+"You say he locked you in his <em class="italics">bedroom</em>!" she said,
+in a rasping whisper. "<em class="italics">Locked</em> you—actually <em class="italics">locked</em>
+you in! Oh, Lord have mercy!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Then, after a long wait," the girl went on, "in
+which I was praying only for the money, mother—the
+money to save your life and put you out of
+agony—I heard steps, first on the stairs and then
+at the door. Somebody touched the latch. The
+door held fast. Then the key was turned, and as
+I sat there with covered face, now with the dread
+of death upon me for the first time, somebody came
+in and stood over me."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"The scoundrel! The beast!" Jane's hands slipped
+from their hold on the girl's ankles and fell; her
+head and shoulders sank till her brow touched the
+floor.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"A hand was laid on my head," Virginia went on.
+"I heard a voice—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"The fiend from hell!" Jane raised her haggard
+face and glaring eyes. "Don't, don't tell me that
+he dared to—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It was Mrs. Boyd, mother—Ann Boyd," said
+Virginia.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Ann Boyd!" Jane groaned. "I see it now; <em class="italics">she</em>
+was at the bottom of it; it was all <em class="italics">her</em> doing. <em class="italics">That</em>
+was her plot. Ah, God, I see it now!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You are mistaken," the girl said. "She had
+accidentally overheard my agreement to go there,
+and came for no other reason than to save me,
+mother—to save me."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"To save you?" Jane raised herself on her two
+hands like a four-footed animal looking up from
+its food. "Save your" she repeated, with the helpless
+glare of insanity in her blearing eyes.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, to save me. She was acting on impulse,
+an impulse for good that she was even then fighting
+against. When she heard of that appointment she
+actually gloated over it, but, mother, she found herself
+unequal to it. As the time which had been set
+drew near, she plunged out into the night and got
+there only a few minutes before—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"In time—oh, my God, did you say <em class="italics">in time</em>?"
+Jane gasped, again clutching her daughter's ankles
+and holding desperately to them.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, in time to save me from all but the life-long
+consciousness of my awful indiscretion. She brought
+me away, and after that how could I be other than
+a grateful friend to such a noble creature?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"In time—oh, my God, in <em class="italics">time</em>!" Jane exclaimed,
+as she sat erect on the floor and tossed her scant
+hair, which, like a wisp of tow, hung down her cheek.
+Then she got up stiffly and moved back to the bed
+as aimlessly as if she were wandering in her sleep.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"There is no use in my saying more, mother."
+Virginia rose and turned to the door. "I'm going
+back to my room. You can think it all over and
+do as you please with me. I deserve punishment,
+and I'm willing to take it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jane stared at her from her hollow eyes for a
+moment, then she said: "Yes, go! I never want to
+see you again; Ann Boyd saved you, but she is now
+gloating over <em class="italics">me</em>. She'll call it heaping coals of
+fire on my head; she'll brag to me and others of
+what she's done, and of what I owe her. Oh, I
+know that woman! You've escaped one thing, but
+have made me face another worse than death. Go
+on away—get clear out of my sight. If you don't
+I'll say something to you that you will remember
+all your life."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Very well, mother." Virginia moved to the
+door. Her hand was on the latch, when, with a
+startled gasp, her mother called out:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Stop!—stop! For God's sake don't you dare to
+tell me that I went to Atlanta and bought back my
+life with that young scoundrel's money; if you do,
+as God is my Judge, I'll strike you dead where you
+stand."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, I refused to take it," Virginia said. "He
+came to me afterwards and begged me to accept
+it, but I refused."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Then how under the sun—" Jane began, but
+went no further.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Virginia turned in the doorway and stood still;
+a look of resigned despair was on her. "You may
+as well know <em class="italics">all</em> the truth," she said. "I promised
+not to tell, but you really ought to know this, too.
+Mother, Ann Boyd, gave me the money. The woman
+you are still hounding and hating earned the
+money by the sweat of her brow that saved your
+life."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Ann Boyd! Oh, my God, and to think you can
+stand there and tell me that! Get out of my sight.
+You have acted the fool all along, and humiliated me
+in the dust by your conduct. You are no child of
+mine. It was all a plot—a dirty, low plot. She has
+used you. She has used me. She is laughing at us
+both right now. Oh, I know her! Get out of my
+sight or I'll forget myself and—go, I tell you!"</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="xxxvi">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id37">XXXVI</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">The next morning Jane did not come
+out to breakfast. Virginia had it ready
+on the table and went to her mother's
+room to call her. There was no response.
+Opening the door, she saw
+Jane, fully dressed, standing at the window looking
+out, but she refused to speak when gently informed
+that breakfast was ready. Then Virginia went back
+to the kitchen, and, arranging some delicacies, a cup
+of coffee, and other things on a tray, she took it in
+and left it on her mother's table and retired, closing
+the door after her.</p>
+<p class="pnext">For a week Jane refused to leave her room or
+speak to her daughter. Three times a day Virginia
+took her mother's food to her, always finding the
+window-shade drawn and the chamber dark.</p>
+<p class="pnext">One morning, about this time, Virginia happened
+to see Ann in her peanut-patch, a rich spot of ground
+below the old woman's barn-yard, and, seeing that
+she would be quite unobserved, she put on her bonnet
+and shawl and joined Ann, who, with a long,
+narrow hoe, was carefully digging the peanuts from
+the hills, and pulling them out by the brown, frost-bitten
+vines, and shaking the earth from their roots
+and leaving them to dry and season in the open air.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I never saw goobers to beat these," Ann said,
+proudly, as she held up a weighty bunch. "I reckon
+this patch will turn out a good hundred bushel. I
+hit it just right; they tell me in town that they are
+bringing a fine price. I've been wondering what
+was the matter with you, child. You've been keeping
+powerful close in-doors."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Then, as Ann leaned on her smooth hoe-handle,
+Virginia told her frankly all that had taken place,
+leaving out nothing, and ending with her mother's
+self-incarceration and sullen mood.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well," Ann exclaimed, her brow ruffled with
+pained perplexity, "I hardly know what to say in
+the matter. I don't blame you for letting out the
+whole business after you once got started. That
+was just natural. But don't worry about her.
+She'll pull through; she's tough as whitleather; her
+trouble's not of the body, but the mind. I know;
+I've been through enough of it. Mark my prophecy,
+she'll come out one of these days feeling better.
+She'll crawl out of her darkness like a butterfly from
+its dead and useless husk. She'll see clearer out in
+the open light when once she strikes it. Look here,
+child. I don't want to look like a sniffling fool after
+all the hard rubs I've had in this life to toughen me,
+but I'm a changed woman. Reading Luke's wonderful
+articles every week, and remembering the
+things the boy has said to me off and on, had something
+to do with it, I reckon, and then this experience
+of yours on top of it all helped. Yes, I'm
+altered; I'm altered and against my natural inclination.
+That very woman is <em class="italics">the</em> one particular human
+thorn in my flesh, and yet, yet, child, as the Lord
+is my Master, I mighty nigh feel sorry for her. I
+mighty nigh pity the poor, old, sin-slashed creature
+housed up there in solitary darkness with her bleeding
+pride and envy and hate. I pity her now, I
+reckon, because the way this has turned out hurts
+her more than any open fight she could have with
+me. I'd 'a' died long ago under all the slush and
+mire that was dabbed on me if I hadn't amused
+myself making money. I didn't have the social
+standing of some of these folks, but I had the hard
+cash, and the clink of my coin has been almost as
+loud as their taunts. But your ma—she's had very
+little substance all along, and that little has been
+dwindling day by day, till she finds herself without
+a dollar and owing her very life to a woman she
+hates. Yes, her lot is a hard one, and I'm sorry
+for her. I pity your mammy, child."</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="xxxvii">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id38">XXXVII</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">For two weeks longer Jane Hemingway,
+to the inexplicable sorrow of her
+gentle and mystified daughter, kept
+the seclusion of her room. The curtains
+of the single window looking out
+on the yard in the rear were constantly drawn,
+and, though the girl sometimes listened attentively
+with her ear to the wall, she heard no sound to
+indicate that her mother ever moved from her bed
+or her chair at the fireplace, where she sat enveloped
+in blankets. She had allowed Virginia to push a
+plate containing her meals three times a day through
+the door, but the things were promptly received into
+the darkness and only sullen silence was the invariable
+response to the frequent inquiries the girl made.</p>
+<p class="pnext">One morning Sam stopped his niece in the yard
+near the well, a droll, half-amused expression on his
+face. "Do you know," he said, "that I believe I'd
+'a' made a bang-up detective if I'd given time to it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Do you think so?" Virginia said, absently.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, I do," he replied. "Now, I'm going to
+give you an instance of what a body can discover
+by sticking two and two together and nosing around
+till you are plumb sure you know what a certain
+thing means. Now, you are a woman—not an old
+one, but a woman all the same—and they are supposed
+to see what's at the ends of their noses and a
+heap beyond, but when it comes to detective work
+they are not in it. I reckon it's because they won't
+look for what they don't want to see, and to make a
+good detective a body must pry into everything that
+is in sight. Well, to come down to the case in hand,
+you've been sticking grub through that crack in the
+door to your mammy, who put herself in limbo
+several weeks ago, but in all that time you haven't
+seen the color of her cheeks to know whether the
+fare is fattening her or thinning her down to the
+bone. In fact, you nor me, on the outside, hain't
+supposed to know a blasted thing about what's going
+on in there. But—and there's where detective
+work comes in—one morning—it was day before
+yesterday, to be accurate—I took notice that all the
+stray cats and ducks and chickens had quit basking
+on the sunny side of the house and was staying
+around your mammy's window. Now, thinks I,
+that's odd; that's not according to the general run;
+so I set in to watching, and what do you reckon?
+I found out that all them Noah's Ark passengers,
+of the two and four footed sort, had assembled there
+to get their meals. Your mammy was regularly
+throwing out the dainty grub you fixed for her. I
+laid in wait nigh the window this morning and saw
+her empty the plate. I went close and took a look.
+She had just nibbled a bit or two, like the pecking
+of a sparrow, out of the centre of the bread-slices,
+but she hadn't touched the eggs nor the streak-o'-lean-streak-o'-fat
+you thought she set such store by.
+Good Lord, Virgie, don't you think the thing's gone
+far enough—having a drove of cats fed on the
+fat o' the land, when me and you are living on
+scraps?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Uncle"—Virginia's startled eyes bore down on
+him suddenly—"what does it mean?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Mean? Why, that there'll be a passle of cats
+on this place too fat to walk, while me 'n' you'll be
+too lean to cast a shadow if we stood side by side in
+the sun."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, uncle, do you suppose she is worse?" Virginia
+asked, in deep concern.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't know," Sam said, seriously, "my Pinkerton
+job ended with the discovery of them cat
+banquets, but I've about reached <em class="italics">one</em> opinion."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And what is that?" the girl asked, anxiously,
+as she bent towards her uncle.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, I think maybe she's so mad and set back
+by all that's happened that she's trying to starve
+herself to death to get even."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, uncle, don't say that!" Virginia cried—"don't!
+don't!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, then, you study it out," he said. "It's
+too much for me."</p>
+<p class="pnext">That morning Virginia quietly slipped over to
+Ann Boyd's and confided the new phase of the situation
+to her sympathetic friend, but Ann could not
+account for Jane's strange conduct, and Virginia
+returned home no wiser than she had left. However,
+at the fence she met Sam. His face was aglow
+with excitement.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What you reckon?" he said. "The bird has
+flown."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Mother, you mean?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, she's skipped clean out. It was this way:
+Pete Denslow drove past about twenty minutes
+ago in his empty two-horse wagon, and I hollered
+out to him and asked him where-away. He pulled
+up at the gate and said he was going over the
+mountain to Gilmer after a load of ginseng to fetch
+back to Darley. Well, sir, no sooner had he said
+that than your mammy piped up from her dungeon,
+where she stood listening at a crack, and said, said
+she, sorter sheepish-like: 'Sam, ask him if he will
+let me go with him; I promised to go see Sally Maud
+Pincher over there the first time any wagon was
+passing, and I want to go.' Well, I told Pete, and
+he looked at the sun and wanted to know how long
+it would take her to get ready. She heard him, and
+yelled out from the door that she'd be out in five
+minutes, and, bless you, she was on the seat beside
+him in less time in her best clothes and carpet-bag
+in hand. She was as white in the face as a convict
+out taking a sunning, and her gingham looked like
+it was hanging from a hook on her neck, she was
+that thin. She never said a word to me as she
+went by. At first I thought she was plumb crazy,
+but she had the clearest eye in her head I ever saw,
+and she was chattering away to Pete about the
+weather as if he was an unmarried man and she was
+on the carpet."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, uncle, what do you think it means?" Virginia
+sighed, deeply worried.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, I think it's a fine sign, myself," said Sam.
+"I'm not as good a judge of women as I am of mules—though
+a body ought to know as much of one as
+the other—but I think she's perhaps been wanting
+to get a breath of fresh air for some time and
+didn't like to acknowledge she was tired of cave-life.
+Over there at Pincher's, you see, she can slide
+back into her old ways without attracting attention
+by it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And she didn't leave a word of directions to me?"
+the girl said, sadly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Not a word," was the droll reply. "I didn't
+say good-bye to her myself. To tell the truth, I
+had noticed that she'd forgot to put up a snack for
+her and Pete to eat on the way, and I was afraid
+she might remember it at the last minute and take
+what little there was left for you and me."</p>
+<p class="pnext">But Jane evidently had something to attend to
+before paying her promised visit to Sally Maud
+Pincher, for on their arrival at the village of Ellijay,
+the seat of the adjoining county, she asked her
+obliging conveyer to put her down at the hotel,
+where she intended to spend the night. It was
+then about five o'clock in the afternoon, and she
+went into the little office, which looked like a parlor
+in a farm-house, and registered her name and was
+given a room with a sky-blue door and ceiling and
+whitewashed walls, at the head of the stairs. She
+sat after that at the window, looking out upon the
+dreary street and the lonely, red-clay road leading
+up the mountain, till it grew dark. She went down
+to the dining-room when the great brass bell was
+rung by a negro boy who shook it vigorously as he
+walked through the hall and around the house,
+but she had no appetite—the long, jolting journey
+over the rough road had weakened rather than
+stimulated her faint physical needs, and so she took
+only a glass of milk, into which she had dropped a
+few morsels of bread, eating the mixture with a
+spoon like a child.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"If I'm going to do this thing," she mused, as
+she sat on her bed in her night-dress and twisted her
+hair in a knot, "the quicker it's over the better.
+When I left home it seemed easy enough, but now
+it's awful—simply awful!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">She slept soundly from sheer fatigue, and was up
+the next morning and dressed before the hotel cook,
+an old woman, had made a fire in the range. She
+walked down-stairs into the empty hall and out on
+the front veranda, but saw no one. The ground
+was white with frost and the mountain air was crisp
+and cutting, but it seemed to have put color into
+her cheeks. Going through the office, where she
+saw no one, she went into the dining-room just as
+the cook was coming in from the adjoining kitchen.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Good-morning," Jane said. "I've got about
+four miles to walk, and, as I've lately been down
+sick in bed, I want to sorter take it slow and get an
+early start. I paid my bill before I went to bed
+last night, including breakfast, and if you could
+give me a slice of bread-and-butter and a cup of
+coffee that will be all I want."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I can get them ready in a minute," said
+the woman, "but I'd hate to do a four-mile walk
+on as little as that."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I've been sort of dieting myself," Jane said,
+perhaps recalling her past bounty to the cats and
+chickens at the window of her room, "and I don't
+need much."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, all right," said the cook, spreading a napkin
+at one end of a long table; "you set down here
+and I'll supply you in a few minutes. The landlord
+leaves me in charge here till he gets up. He's
+a late sleeper; he was out last night at the trial of
+the moonshiners. You say you paid for breakfast
+in your bill. I think it's a shame. If he wasn't so
+easy to make mad, I'd go shake him up and get some
+of your money back. I don't happen to tote the
+key to the cash-drawer. I reckon you paid seventy-five
+cents for supper, bed, and breakfast—'s., b., and
+b.,' we call it for short—and you are entitled to a
+full round—meat, eggs, fish (in season), batter-cakes
+or waffles, whichever it is. Our waffle-irons are split
+right half in two, and we just give batter-cakes
+now; but folks know the brand clean to Darley.
+You ought to see the judge tackle 'em during court
+week; him and the district-attorney had a race the
+other night to see which could eat the most. I had
+three pans running, and such a smoke of burning
+lard in the kitchen you couldn't have seen a white
+cat in an inch of your nose. The whole jury and
+a lots of witnesses under guard of the sheriff was
+allowed to look on. The judge beat. The lawyer
+got so full he couldn't talk, and that was the signal
+to call a halt. I was glad, for old Mrs. Macklin was
+waiting in the kitchen to try to hear if there was
+any chance to save her son, who was being tried
+for killing that feller in the brick-yard last summer.
+Ever' time I'd come in for fresh cakes she'd look
+up sorter pitiful-like to see if I'd heard anything.
+They'd already agreed to send 'im up for life, but
+I didn't know it. Yes, you ought to have a quarter
+of that money back, <em class="italics">anyway</em>. Unless a knife and
+fork is used, I make a habit, when it's left to me,
+not to charge a cent, and you don't look like you
+are overly flush."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, but I'm satisfied as it is," Jane said, as she
+finished her bread and milk. "I didn't expect to
+get it for any less."</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="xxxviii">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id39">XXXVIII</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">A few minutes later, with her flabby
+carpet-bag on her sharp hip, Jane
+fared forth on the mountain road,
+which led farther eastward. She walked
+slowly and with increased effort,
+for the high altitude seemed to affect her respiration,
+and, light as it was, the carpet-bag became
+cumbersome and she had to pause frequently to
+rest.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, if I'm going to do it, I'll have to plunge in
+and do it, and be done with the matter," she kept
+saying. "I reckon it isn't the first time such a
+thing has been heard of." She passed several humble
+mountain houses, built of logs, on the way, but
+stopped at none of them. The sun was near the
+zenith when she came to a double log-cabin standing
+back on a plot of newly cleared land a hundred yards
+from the rocky road. A tall, plain-looking girl, with
+a hard, unsympathetic face, stood in the doorway,
+and she stepped down to the ground and quieted a
+snarling dog which was chained to a stake driven
+into the earth.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I reckon you are Nettie Boyd, ain't you?" Jane
+said.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I used to be," the young woman answered. "I
+married a Lawson—Sam Lawson—awhile back."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh yes, I forgot that. I'd heard it, too, of
+course, but it slipped my memory. I'm a Hemingway,
+from over in Murray County—Jane Hemingway.
+I used to be acquainted with your pa.
+Is he handy?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, he was here just a minute ago," Ann Boyd's
+daughter answered. "He's around at his hay-stack
+pulling down some roughness for the cow. Go in
+and take a seat and I'll call him. Lay your bonnet
+on the bed and make yourself at home."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jane went into the cabin, the walls of which were
+unlined, being only the bare logs with the bark on
+them. The cracks where the logs failed to fit closely
+together were filled with the red clay from the hills
+around. There was not a picture in sight, not an
+ornament on the crude board shelf over the rugged
+mud-and-stone fireplace. From wooden pegs driven
+in auger-holes in the walls hung the young bride's
+meagre finery, in company with what was evidently
+her husband's best suit of clothes and hat. Beneath
+them, on the floor, stood a pair of new woman's shoes,
+dwarfed by contrast to a heavier and larger masculine
+pair. Jane sat down, rolling her bonnet in her
+stiff fingers. The chair she sat on was evidently of
+home make, for the rockers were unevenly sawed,
+and, on the unplaned boards of the floor, it had
+a joggling, noisy motion when in use. There were
+two beds in the room, made of rough, pine planks.
+The coverings of the beds were not in order and the
+pillows were soiled.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"If she'd 'a' stayed on with Ann she would 'a'
+made a better house-keeper than that," Jane mused.
+"She's a sight, too, with her hair uncombed and
+dress so untidy so soon after the honeymoon. I
+can see now that her and Ann never would get on
+together. Anybody could take one look at that
+girl and see she's selfish. I wonder what that fellow
+ever saw in her?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was a sound of voices outside. With a
+start, Jane drew herself erect. The carpet-bag on
+her knees threatened to fall, and she lowered it to
+the floor. Her ordeal was before her.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, howdy do?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Joe Boyd, in tattered shirt, trousers patched upon
+patches, and gaping shoes through which his bare
+toes showed, stood in the doorway. That the old
+beau and the once most popular young man of the
+country-side could stand looking like that before her,
+even after the lapse of all those trying years, and
+not feel abashed, was one of the inexplicable things
+that rushed through Jane Hemingway's benumbed
+brain. That she, herself, could be looking at the
+very husk of the ideal of manhood she had held all
+those years and not cry out in actual pain over the
+pitiful evidences of his collapse from his high estate
+was another thing she marvelled over. Joe Boyd!
+Could it actually be he? Could those gaunt, talon-nailed
+members, with their parchment-like skin, be
+the hands she used to think so shapely? Could
+those splaying feet be the feet that had tripped more
+lightly in the Virginia Reel than those of any other
+man for miles around? Could those furtive, harsh-glancing
+eyes be the deep, dreamy ones in which
+she had once seen the mirage of her every girlish
+hope? Could that rasping tone come from the voice
+whose never diminishing echo had rung in her ears
+through all those years of hiding her secret from
+the man she had married out of "spite," through
+all her long tooth-in-flesh fight with the rival who
+had temporarily won and held him?</p>
+<p class="pnext">She rose and gave him her hand, and the two
+stood facing each other, she speechless, he thoroughly
+at his indolent ease.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I reckon, Jane, old girl," he laughed, as he
+wiped a trickling stream of tobacco-juice from the
+corner of his sagging mouth, "that you are the very
+last human being I ever expected to lay eyes on
+again. I swear I wouldn't 'a' known you from
+Adam's cat if Nettie hadn't told me who it was.
+My, how thin you look, and all bent over!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, I'm changed, and you are too, Joe," she
+said, as, with a stiff hand beneath her, she sought
+the chair again.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes"—he went to the doorway and spat voluminously
+out into the yard, and came back swinging a
+chair as lightly in his hand as if it had been a baseball
+bat with which he was playing—"yes, I reckon
+I am altered considerable; a body's more apt to
+see changes in others than in himself. I was just
+thinking the other day about them old times. La
+me! how much fun we all did have, but it didn't
+last—it didn't last."</p>
+<p class="pnext">He sat down, leaning forward and clasping his
+dry-palmed hands with a sound like the rubbing
+together of two pieces of paper. There was an
+awkward silence. Nettie Lawson came to the door
+and glanced in inquiringly, and then went away.
+They heard her calling her chickens some distance
+from the cabin.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, I wouldn't have recognized you if I'd met
+you alone in the big road," he said, "nor you
+wouldn't me, I reckon."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Joe"—she was looking about the room—"somehow
+I had an idea that you were in—in a little
+better circumstances than—than you seem to be in
+now."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, that wouldn't be hard to imagine, anyway,"
+he said, with an intonation like a sigh, if it
+wasn't one. "If a body couldn't imagine a better
+fix for a man to be in than I am in, they'd better
+quit. Lord, Lord, I reckon I ought to be dead
+ashamed to meet you in this condition when you
+knew me away back in them palmy days, but, Jane,
+I really believe I've sunk below that sort of a feeling.
+You know I used to cut a wide swath when I had
+plenty of money and friends, but what's the use of
+crying over spilt milk? This is all there is left of
+me. I managed to marry Nettie off to a feller good
+enough in his way. I thought he was a fine catch,
+but I don't know. I was under the impression that
+his folks had some money to give him to sorter start
+the two out, but it seems they didn't have, and was
+looking for a stake themselves. Since they married
+he just stays round here, contented and about as
+shiftless as anybody could be. I thought, for instance,
+that he never got in debt, but a store-keeper
+in town told me the other day that he owed him for
+the very duds he was married in."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That's bad, that's powerful bad," Jane said,
+sympathetically. Then a fixed look took possession
+of her eyes, and her fingers tightened on her bonnet
+in her lap, as she plunged towards the thing with
+which she was burdened. "Joe," she continued,
+"I've come all the way over the mountain in my
+delicate health to see you about a particular matter.
+God knows it's the hardest thing I ever contemplated,
+but there is no other way out of it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I think I know what you are going to say,"
+he answered, avoiding her eyes.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You do, Joe?" she exclaimed. "Oh no, surely,
+you can't know that."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I think I can make a good guess," he said,
+awkwardly twirling his fingers round and round.
+"You see, I always make a habit, when I happen to
+meet anybody from over your way, of asking about
+old acquaintances, and I heard some time back that
+you was in deep trouble. They said you had some
+high-priced doctoring to do in Atlanta, and that you
+was going from old friend to old friend for what little
+help they could give. I'm going to see what I can
+do towards it myself, since you've taken such a long
+trip, though, Jane, to tell you the truth, I haven't
+actually seen a ten-cent piece in a month. I've gone
+without tobacco when I thought the desire for it
+would run me distracted. So—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I didn't come for help—Lord, Lord, I only wish
+it was that, Joe. I've already had the operation,
+and I'm recovering. I've come over here, Joe, to
+make an awful confession."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"A—a—what?" he said.</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was a pause. Jane Hemingway unrolled
+her bonnet and put it on, pulling the hood down over
+her line of vision.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Joe, I've come to tell you that I've been a bad
+woman; I've been a bad, sinning woman since away
+back there when you married Ann. Things you
+used to say to me, I reckon, turned my silly head.
+You remember when you took me to camp-meeting
+that night, and we sat through meeting out in the
+buggy under the trees. I reckon, if it was all to
+do over you wouldn't have said so much. I reckon
+you wouldn't if you'd known you were planting a
+seed that was going to fructify and bear the fruit
+of hate and enmity that would never rot; but, for all
+I know, you may have been saying the same things
+to other girls who knew better how to take them
+than I did."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, Jane, I was a fool them days," Joe Boyd
+broke in, with an actual flush of shame in his tanned
+face.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, never mind about that," Jane went on,
+with a fresher determination under his own admission.
+"I reckon I let it take too strong a hold on
+me. I never could give up easy, and when you got
+to going with Ann, and she was so much prettier
+and more sprightly than me, it worked against my
+nature. It hardened me, I reckon. I married soon
+after you did, but I won't tell about that; he's dead
+and gone. I had my child—that was all, except—except
+my hate for Ann. I couldn't stand to see
+you and her so happy together, and you both were
+making money and I was losing what I had. Then,
+Joe, we all heard about—we all learned Ann's secret."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Don't—for the love of mercy—don't fetch that
+up!" Boyd groaned.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But I <em class="italics">have</em> to, Joe," Jane persisted, softly. "At
+first I was the happiest woman that the devil ever
+delighted by flashing a lying promise with his fire
+on a wall. I thought you were going to scorn her,
+but I saw that day I met you at the meeting-house
+that you were inclined to condone the past, and
+that drove me wild; so I—" Jane choked up and
+paused.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I remember that day," Joe Boyd said, with a
+deep breath. "I'll never forget it as long as I live,
+for what you said dropped me back into the bottomless
+pit of despair. I'd been trying to think she'd
+been straight with me <em class="italics">since</em> we married, but when
+you—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What I told you that morning, Joe, was a cold,
+deliberate lie!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"A—a—" he stammered. "No, no, you don't
+mean that—you can't mean—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Every—single—thing—I—told—you—that—day—was—a—lie!"
+Jane said, with an emphatic
+pause between each word.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I can't understand. I don't see—really, Jane,
+you can't mean that what you said about Chester's
+going there day after day when my back was turned,
+and that you saw them together in the woods below
+your house that day when I was—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Everything I told you was a lie from the devil,
+out of the very fumes of hell," Jane said, pulling
+off her bonnet and looking him squarely in the face.
+"A lie—a lie, Joe."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, my God!" Boyd cried. "And I, all these
+years I have—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You've been believing what I said. But I'm
+not through yet. I've been in a dark room fasting
+and praying for a month to overcome my evil
+inclination not to speak the truth, and I finally
+conquered, so I'm going to tell the whole thing.
+Joe, Ann Boyd is the best woman God ever let live.
+She was as true as steel to you from the day she
+married till now. I have been after her day and
+night, never giving her a moment's rest from my
+persecutions, and how do you reckon she retaliated?
+She paid me back by actually saving my worthless
+life and trying to keep me from knowing who did it.
+She did something else. She did me the greatest
+favor one woman could possibly do another. I
+don't intend to say what that particular thing was,
+but she must have the credit. Now I'm through.
+I'm going back home."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Boyd drew his ill-clad feet towards him. He
+spread out his two arms wide and held them so,
+steadily. "Look at me—just look at me," he said.
+"Woman, before you go back, take one good look
+at me. You come to me—a mere frazil of what I
+once was—when there is no hope of ever regaining
+my youth and self-respect—and tell me—oh, my
+God!—tell me that I believed <em class="italics">you</em> instead of <em class="italics">her</em>!
+She said, with tears in her eyes, on her knees before
+me, that that first mistake was all, and I told her
+she lied <em class="italics">in her throat</em>, and left her, dragging from
+her clinging arms the child of her breast, bringing it
+up and raising it to what you see she is. And now
+you come literally peeping into my open coffin and
+telling <em class="italics">this</em> to my dead face. Great God, woman,
+before Heaven I feel like striking you where you set,
+soaked in repentance though you are. All these
+misspent years I've been your cowardly tool, and
+her—her—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I deserve it—talk on!" Jane Hemingway said,
+as she rose and clutched her carpet-bag and held it
+tremblingly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">But Joe Boyd's innate gentleness had been one
+of the qualities many women loved, and even before
+the cowering creature who had wrecked his life he
+melted in manly pity.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No," he said, stretching out his hand with something
+like one of his old gestures—"no, I'm going
+too far, Jane. We are all obedient to natural laws,
+as Ann used to say. Your laws have made you do
+just as you have, and so have mine. Away back
+there in the joy-time of youth my laws made me
+say too much to you. As you say, I planted the
+seed. I did; I planted the seed that bore all the
+fruit; I planted it when I kissed you, Jane, and said
+them things to you that night which I forgot the
+next day. Ann could have made something out of
+me better than this. As long as I had her to manage
+me, I did well. You see what I am now."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, I see; and I'm as sorry as I know how to
+be." Jane sighed as she passed out into the open
+sunlight. "I'm going home, Joe. I may never lay
+eyes on you again in this life. If you can say anything
+to make me feel better, I'd be thankful."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"There isn't anything, except what I said just
+now about our natural laws, Jane," he said, as he
+stood shading his eyes from the glare of the sun.
+"Sometimes I think that nobody hain't to blame
+for nothing they do, and that all of this temporary
+muddle is just the different ways human beings have
+of struggling on to a better world beyond this."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I thought maybe you might, in so many words,
+say plain out that you'd forgive me, Joe." She had
+turned her face towards the road she was to travel,
+and her once harsh lip was quivering like that of a
+weeping child.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"The natural law would come in there, too,"
+Boyd sighed. "Forgiveness, of the right sort, don't
+spring to the heart in such a case as this like a flash
+of powder in the pan. If I'm to forgive, I will in
+due time, I reckon; but right now, Jane, I feel too
+weak and tired, even for that—too weak and heartsick
+and undone."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I'm going to pray for it, Joe," she said, as
+she started away. "Good-bye. May the Lord
+above bless you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Good-bye, Jane; do the best you can," he said,
+"and I'll try to do the same."</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="xxxix">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id40">XXXIX</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">The following Sunday afternoon Mrs.
+Waycroft hastened over to Ann Boyd's.
+She walked very rapidly across the
+fields and through the woods rather
+than by the longer main road. She
+found Ann in her best dress seated in her dining-room
+reading Luke King's paper, which had come
+the day before. She looked up and smiled and
+nodded to the visitor.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I just wish you'd listen to this," she said, enthusiastically.
+"And when you've heard it, if you
+don't think that boy is a genius you'll miss it by a
+big jump. On my word, such editorials as this will
+do more good than all the preaching in Christendom.
+I've read it four times. Sit down and listen."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, you've got to listen to me," said the visitor.
+"That can wait; it's down in black and white, while
+mine is fairly busting me wide open. Ann, do you
+know what took place at meeting this morning?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, no, how could I? You know I said I'd
+never darken that door again, after that low-lived
+coward—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Stop, Ann, and listen!" Mrs. Waycroft panted,
+as she sank into a chair and leaned forward. "You
+know I go seldom myself, but by some chance I went
+this morning. I always feel like doing the best I
+can towards the end of a year. Well, I had hardly
+got my seat and Brother Bazemore had just got up
+to make some announcements, when who should
+come in but Jane Hemingway. Instead of stopping
+at her usual place, nigh the stove, she walked
+clean up to the altar-railing and stood as stiff as a
+post, gazing at the preacher. He was busy with
+his notes and didn't see her at first, though every
+eye in the house was fixed on her in wonder, for she
+was as white as a sheet, and so thin and weak that
+it looked like the lightest wind would blow her
+away. 'Brother Bazemore,' she said, loud enough
+to be heard, in her shrill voice, clean out to the
+horse-rack, 'I want to say something, and I want
+to say it out before all of you.'"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Huh!" Ann grunted—"huh!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, he looked good surprised," Mrs. Waycroft
+went on, "but you know he's kind o' resentful if
+folks don't show consideration for his convenience,
+so he looked down at her over his specks and said:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"'Well, sister, I reckon the best time for that
+will be after preaching, and then them that want
+to stay can do so and feel that they got what they
+waited for.'</p>
+<p class="pnext">"'But I can't wait,' said she. 'What I've got to
+say must be said now, while I'm plumb in the notion.
+If I waited I might back out, and I don't want to
+do it.'</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, he give in; and, Ann, she turned around
+facing us all and took off her bonnet and swung it
+about like a flag. She was as nigh dead in looks as
+any corpse I ever saw. And since you was born,
+Ann, you never heard the like. Folks was so interested
+that they stared as if their eyes was popping
+out of their sockets. She said she'd come to confess
+to crime—that's the way she put it—<em class="italics">crime!</em>
+She said she'd been passing for half a lifetime in
+this community as a Christian woman, when in actuality
+she had been linked body and soul to the
+devil. Right there she gulped and stood with her
+old head down; then she looked at us like a crazy
+person and went on. She said away back when she
+was a girl she'd been jealous of a certain girl, and
+that she'd hounded that girl through a long life.
+She had made it her particular business to stir up
+strife against that woman by toting lies from one
+person to another. She turned sort o' sideways to
+the preacher and said: 'Brother Bazemore, what I
+told you Ann Boyd said about you that time was
+all made up—a lie out of whole cloth. I told you
+that to make you denounce her in public, and you
+did. I kept telling her neighbors things to make 'em
+hate her, and they did. I told her husband a whole
+string of deliberate lies that made him leave her
+and take her child away. I spent half my life at
+this thing, to have it end like this: Men and women,
+the woman that I was doing all that against was the
+one who came up with the money that saved my
+worthless life and tried to hide it from me and the
+rest of the world. She not only done that, but she
+done me even a greater favor. I won't say what
+that was, but nobody but an angel from heaven,
+robed in the flesh of earth, could have done that,
+for it was the very thing she had every right to want
+to see visited on me. That act would have paid me
+back in my own coin, and she wanted to count out
+the money, but she was too much of heaven to go
+through it. Instead of striking at me, she saved
+me suffering that would have dragged me to the
+dust in shame. I've come here to say all this because
+I want to do her justice, if I can, while the
+breath of life is in me. I've just got back from
+Gilmer, where I went and met the man whose life
+I wrecked—her husband. I told him the truth,
+hoping that I could do him some good in atonement,
+but the poor, worn-out man seemed too utterly
+crushed to forgive me.'"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Joe—she went to Joe!" Ann gasped, finding her
+voice. "Now, I reckon, he believes me. And to
+think that Jane Hemingway would say all that—do
+all that! It don't seem reasonable. But you
+say she actually—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Of course she did," broke in the narrator. "And
+when she was through she marched straight down
+the middle aisle and stalked outside. Half the folks
+got up and went to the windows and watched her
+tottering along the road; and then Brother Bazemore
+called 'em back and made 'em sit down. He
+said, in his cold-blooded way, hemming and hawing,
+that the whole community had been too severe, and
+that the best way to get the thing settled and
+smooth-running again was to agree on some sort
+of public testimonial. Ann, I reckon fully ten men
+yelled out that they would second the motion. I
+never in all my life saw such excitement. Folks
+was actually crying, and this one and that one was
+telling kind things you had done to them. Then
+they all got around me, Ann, and they made a lots
+over me, saying I was the only one who had acted
+right, and that I must ask you to forgive them.
+That was the motion Bazemore put and carried by
+a vote of rising. Half of them was so anxious to
+have their votes counted that they climbed up on
+the benches and waved their hats and bonnets and
+shawls, and yelled out, 'Here! here!' Bazemore
+dismissed without preaching; it looked like he
+thought nothing he could say, in any regular line,
+would count in such a tumult. And after meeting
+dozens of 'em slid up to me and snatched my hands
+and told me to speak a good word for them; they
+kept it up even after I'd got outside, some of 'em
+walking part of the way with me and sending messages.
+Wait till I catch my breath, and I'll tell you
+who spoke and what each one said, as well as I
+can."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Never mind," said Ann, an absent look in her
+strong face. "I believe I'd rather not hear any
+more of it; it don't make one bit of difference one
+way or another."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, Ann, surely you won't entertain hard feelings,
+now that they all feel so bad. If you could
+only 'a' been there, you would—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, it isn't that," Ann sighed, and with her
+closed hand she pounded her heavy knee restlessly.
+"You see, Mary—oh, I don't know—but, well, I can't
+possibly be any way but the way the Lord made me,
+and to save my life I can't feel grateful. They all
+just seem to me like a lot of spoilt children that
+laugh or cry over whatever comes up. Somehow a
+testimonial from a congregation like that, after a
+lifetime of beating me and covering me with slime,
+seems more like an insult than a compliment. They
+think they can besmirch the best part of my life,
+and then rub it off in a minute with good intentions
+and a few words. Why, it was the same sort of
+whim that made them all follow Jane Hemingway
+like sheep after a leader. I don't hate 'em, you
+understand, but what they do or say simply don't
+alter my feelings a speck. I have known all along
+that I had the right kind of—character, and to
+listen to their sniffling testimony on the subject
+would seem to me like—well, like insulting my own
+womanhood."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You are a powerful strange creature, Ann," Mrs.
+Waycroft said, reflectively, "but, I reckon, if you
+hadn't been that way you wouldn't be such a
+wonderful woman in so many ways. I was holding
+something back for the last, but I reckon you'll sniff
+at that more than what I've already told you.
+Ann, when I got home, and had just set down to
+eat a snack before running over to you, who should
+come to my back gate and call me out except Jane
+herself. She stood leaning against the fence like
+the walk had nearly done her up, and she refused
+to come in and set down. She said she wanted me
+to do her a favor. She said she knew I was at meeting
+and heard what she said, but that she wanted
+me to come to you for her. As God is my final
+Judge, I never felt such pity for a poor rotten shred
+of humanity in all my life. She looked like she was
+trying to cry, but was too dry inside to do anything
+but wheeze; her very eyes seemed to be literally
+on fire; she looked like a crazy person talking
+rationally. She said she wanted me to tell you
+how sorry and broke up she was, that she'd pay
+back that hundred dollars if she had to deed away
+her dead body to some medical college. She said
+she could do anything on earth to make amends
+<em class="italics">except</em> go to you face to face and apologize—she'd
+walk from door to door all over the country, she
+said, and tell her tale of shame, but she couldn't
+say it to you. She said she had tried for weeks to
+do it, but she knew she'd never have the moral
+strength."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"She talked that way?" Ann said, looking steadily
+out into the sunshine through the open doorway.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes; and I reckon you have as little patience
+with her message as you have with the balance,"
+said the visitor.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, she's different, Mary," Ann declared. "Jane
+Hemingway is another proposition altogether. She's
+fought a long, fierce fight, and God Almighty's
+forces have whipped her clean out. She was a
+worthy foe, and I respect her more now than I ever
+did. She was different from the rest. <em class="italics">She</em> had a
+cause. <em class="italics">She</em> had something to fight about. She
+loved Joe Boyd with all the heart she ever had, and
+when I married him she couldn't—simply couldn't—let
+it rest. She held on like a bull-dog with his
+teeth clamped to bone. She's beat; I won't wait
+for her to come to me; I may take a notion and
+go to her."</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="xl">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id41">XL</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">It was a crisp, clear day in December.
+Langdon Chester had gone to Darley
+to attend to the banking of a considerable
+amount of money which his
+father had received for cotton on the
+market. It happened to be the one day in the year
+in which the town was visited by a mammoth circus,
+and the streets were overflowing with mountain
+people eager to witness the grand street-parade,
+the balloon ascension, the side-shows, and, lastly,
+the chief performance under the big tent. From
+the quaint old Johnston House, along Main Street
+to the grain warehouses and the throbbing and
+wheezing cotton compress, half a mile distant, the
+street was filled with people afoot, in carts, wagons,
+and buggies, or on horseback. All this joy and
+activity made little impression on Langdon Chester.
+His face was thin and sallow, and he was extremely
+nervous. His last conversation with Virginia and
+her positive refusal to consider his proposal of marriage
+had left him without a hope and more desperate
+than his best friend could have imagined possible
+to a man of his supposedly callous temperament.
+And a strange fatality seemed to be dogging his
+footsteps and linking him to the matter which he
+had valiantly attempted to lay aside, for everywhere
+he went he heard laudatory remarks about Luke
+King and his marvellous success and strength of
+character. In the group of lawyers seated in the
+warm sunshine in front of Trabue's little one-storied
+brick office on the street leading to the court-house,
+it was a topic of more interest than any gossip about
+the circus. It was Squire Tomlinson's opinion, and
+he had been to the legislature in Atlanta, and associated
+intimately with politicians from all sections
+of the state, that King was a man who, if he wished
+it, could become the governor of Georgia as easy as
+falling off a log, or even a senator of the United
+States. The common people wanted him, the squire
+declared; they had worshipped him ever since his
+first editorial war-whoop against the oppression of
+the political ring, the all-devouring trusts, and the
+corrupt Northern money-power. The squire, blunt
+man that he was, caught sight of Langdon among
+his listeners and playfully made an illustration out
+of him. "There's a chap, gentlemen, the son of a
+good old friend of mine. Now, what did money,
+aristocratic parentage, family brains, and military
+honors do for him? He was sent to the best college
+in the state, with plenty of spending-money at his
+command, and is still hanging onto the strap of his
+daddy's pocket-book—satisfied like we all were in the
+good old days when each of us had a little nigger
+to come and put on our shoes for us and bring hot
+coffee and waffles to the bed after we'd tripped the
+merry toe on somebody's farm all night. Oh, you
+needn't frown, Langdon; you know it's the truth.
+He's still a chip off the old block, gentlemen, while
+his barefoot neighbor, a scion of po' white stock,
+cooked his brain before a cabin pine-knot fire in
+studying, like Abe Lincoln did, and finally went
+forth to conquer the world, and <em class="italics">is</em> conquering it as
+fast as a dog can trot. It's enough, gentlemen, to
+make us all take our boys from school, give 'em a
+good paddling, and put 'em at hard toil in the
+field."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Thank you for the implied compliment, Squire,"
+Langdon said, angrily. "You are frank enough
+about it, anyway."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Now, there, you see," the squire exclaimed, regretfully.
+"I've gone and rubbed him the wrong
+way, and I meant nothing in the world by it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Langdon bowed and smiled his acceptance of the
+apology, though a scowl was on his face as he
+turned to walk down the street. From the conversation
+he had learned that King was expected
+up that day to visit his family, and a sickening
+shock came to him with the thought that it really
+was to see Virginia that he was coming. Yes, he
+was now sure that it had been King's attentions to
+the girl which had turned her against him—that
+and the powerful influence of Ann Boyd.</p>
+<p class="pnext">These thoughts were too much for him. He went
+into Asque's bar, at the hotel, called for whiskey,
+and remained there for hours.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Langdon was in the spacious office of the Johnston
+House when the evening train from Atlanta came
+into the old-fashioned brick car-shed at the door,
+and King alighted. His hand-bag was at once
+snatched by an admiring negro porter, and the by-standers
+crowded around him to shake hands.
+Langdon stood in the office a moment later, his
+brain benumbed with drink and jealous fury, and
+saw his rival literally received into the open arms
+of another eager group. Smothering an oath, the
+young planter leaned against the cigar-case quite
+near the register, over which the clerk stood triumphantly
+calling to King to honor the house by
+writing the name of the state's future governor.
+King had the pen in his hand, when, glancing up,
+he recognized Langdon, whom he had not seen since
+his return from the West.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, how are you, Chester?" he said, cordially.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Langdon stared. His brain seemed pressed downward
+by some weight. The by-standers saw a
+strange, half-insane glare in his unsteady eyes, but
+he said nothing.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, surely you remember me," Luke exclaimed,
+in honest surprise. "King's my name—Luke King.
+It's true I have not met you for several years,
+but—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, it's King, is it?" Langdon said, calmly and
+with the edge of a sneer on his white, determined
+lip. "I didn't know if you were sure <em class="italics">what</em> it was.
+So many of your sort spring up like flies in hot
+weather that one can't tell much about your parentage,
+except on the maternal side."</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was momentous silence. The crowded
+room held its breath in sheer astonishment. King
+stared at his antagonist for an instant, hoping
+against hope that he had misunderstood. Then he
+took a deep breath. "That's a queer thing for one
+man to say to another," he said, fixing Chester with
+a steady stare. "Are you aware that a remark like
+that might reflect on the honor of my mother?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't care who it reflects on," retorted Chester.
+"You can take it any way you wish, if you have got
+enough backbone."</p>
+<p class="pnext">As quick as a flash King's right arm went out
+and his massive fist landed squarely between Chester's
+eyes. The blow was so strong that the young
+planter reeled back into the crowd, instinctively
+pressing his hands to his face. King was ready to
+strike again, but some of his friends stopped him
+and pushed him back against the counter. Others
+in the crowd forcibly drew his maddened antagonist
+away, and further trouble was averted.</p>
+<p class="pnext">With a hand that was strangely steady, King
+registered his name with the pen the clerk was
+extending to him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Let it drop, King," the clerk said. "He's so
+drunk he hardly knows what he's doing. He seems
+to have it in for you, for some reason or other. It
+looks like jealousy to me. They were devilling him
+over at Trabue's office awhile ago about his failure
+and your big success. Let it pass this time. He'll
+be ashamed of himself as soon as his liquor dies
+out."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Thank you, Jim," King replied. "I'll let it rest,
+if he is satisfied with what he's already had."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Going out home to-night?" the clerk asked.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"If I can get a turnout at the stable," King
+answered.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You will have to take a room here, then," the
+clerk smiled, "for everything is out at the livery.
+I know, because two travelling men who had a date
+with George Wilson over there are tied up here."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Then I'll stay and go out in the morning," said
+King. "I'm tired, anyway, and that is a hard ride
+at night."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, take the advice of a friend and steer clear
+of Chester right now," said the clerk. "He's a devil
+when he's worked up and drinking. Really, he's
+dangerous."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I know that, but I'll not run from him," said
+King. "I thought my fighting day was over, but
+there are some things I can't take."</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="xli">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id42">XLI</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">It was dusk the following evening.
+Virginia was at the cow-lot when her
+uncle came lazily up the road from
+the store and joined her. "Well," he
+drawled out, as he thrust his hands into
+his pocket for his pipe, "I reckon I'm onto a piece
+o' news that you and your mother, nor nobody else
+this side o' Wilson's shebang, knows about. Mrs.
+Snodgrass has just arrived by hack from Darley,
+where she attended the circus and tried to get a
+job to beat that talking-machine they had in the
+side-show. It seems that this neighborhood has
+furnished the material for more excitement over
+there than the whole exhibition, animals and all."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"How is that, uncle?" Virginia asked, absent-mindedly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, it seems that a row has been on tap between
+Langdon Chester and Luke King for, lo, these
+many months, anyway, and yesterday, when the
+population of Darley turned out in as full force to
+meet Luke King as they did the circus parade, why
+it was too much for Chester's blood. He kept drinking
+and drinking till he hardly knew which end of
+him was up, and then he met Luke at the Johnston
+House face to face. Mrs. Snod says Langdon evidently
+laid his plans so there would have to be a
+fight in any case, so he up and slandered that good
+old mammy of King's."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, uncle, and they fought?" Virginia, pale and
+trembling, gasped as she leaned for support on the
+fence.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You bet they did. Mrs. Snod says the vile
+slander had no sooner left Chester's lips than King
+let drive at him right between the eyes. That
+knocked Langdon out of the ring for a while, and
+his friends took him to a room to wash him off, for
+he was bleeding like a stuck pig. King was to come
+out here last night, but Mrs. Snod says he was
+afraid Chester would think he was running from
+the field, and so he stayed on at the hotel. Then,
+this morning early, the two of them come together
+on the street in front of the bank building. Mrs.
+Snod says Chester drawed first and got Luke covered
+before he could say Jack Robinson, and then fired.
+Several shots were exchanged, but the third brought
+King to his knees. They say he's done for, Virginia.
+He wasn't dead to-day at twelve, but the doctors
+said he couldn't live an hour. They say he was
+bleeding so terrible inside that they was afraid to
+move him. I'm here to tell you, Virgie, that I used
+to like that chap; and when he got to coming to
+see you, and I could see that he meant business, I
+was in hopes you and him would make a deal, but
+then you up and bluffed him off so positive that I
+never could see what it meant. Why, he was about
+the most promising young man I ever—But look
+here, child, what's ailing you?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Nothing, uncle," Virginia said; and, with her
+head down, she turned away. Looking after her for
+a moment in slow wonder, Sam went on into the
+farm-house, bent on telling the startling news to his
+sister-in-law. As for Virginia, she walked on through
+the gathering dusk towards Ann Boyd's house.
+"Dead, dying!" she said, with a low moan. "It
+has come at last."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Farther across the meadow she trudged, unconscious
+of the existence of her physical self. At a
+little stream which she had to cross on stepping-stones
+she paused and moaned again. Dead—actually
+dead! Luke King, the young man whom the
+whole of his state was praising, had been shot down
+like a dog. No matter what might be the current
+report as to the cause of the meeting, young as she
+was she knew it to be the outcome of Langdon Chester's
+passion—the fruition of his mad threat to her.
+Yes, he had made good his word.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Approaching Ann's house, she entered the gate
+just as Mrs. Boyd came to the door and stood smiling
+knowingly at her.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Virginia," she called out, cheerily, "what you
+reckon I've got here? You could make a million
+guesses and then be wide of the mark."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, Mrs. Boyd!" Virginia groaned, as she tottered
+to the step and raised her eyes to the old woman's
+face, "you haven't heard the news. Luke is dead!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Dead?" Ann laughed out impulsively. "Oh no,
+I reckon not. Come in and take a chair by the
+fire; you've got your feet wet with the dew."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"He's dead, he's dead, I tell you!" Virginia
+stood still, her white and rigid face upturned.
+"Langdon Chester, the contemptible coward, shot
+him at Darley this morning."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, <em class="italics">that's</em> it, is it?" A knowing look came into
+Ann Boyd's face. She stroked an impulsive smile
+from her facile lips, but Virginia still saw its light in
+the twinkling eyes above the broad, red hand. "You
+say he's dead? Well, well, that accounts for something
+I was wondering about just now. You know
+I am not much of a hand to believe in spiritual
+manifestations like table-raising folks do, but I'll
+give you my word, Virginia, that for the last hour
+and a half I'd 'a' sworn Luke King <em class="italics">himself</em> was right
+here in the house. Just now I heard something like
+him walking across the floor. It seemed to me he
+went out to the shelf and took a drink of water.
+I'll bet it's Luke's spirit hanging about trying to
+tell me good-bye—that is, if he really <em class="italics">was</em> shot, as
+you say." Ann smiled again and turned her face
+towards the inside of the room, and called out:
+"Say, Ghost of Luke King, if you are in my house
+right now you'd better lie low and listen. This silly
+girl is talking so wild the first thing you know she
+will be saying she don't love Langdon Chester."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Love him? what's the matter with you?" Virginia
+panted. "I hate him. You know I detest
+him. I'll kill him. Do you hear me? I'll kill him
+as sure as I ever meet him face to face."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ann stared at the girl for a moment, her face oddly
+beaming, then she looked back into the room again.
+"Do you hear that, Mr. Ghost? She now says she'll
+kill Langdon Chester on sight. She says that after
+sending <em class="italics">you</em> about your business for no reason in the
+world. You listen good. Maybe she'll be saying
+after a while that she loved you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I <em class="italics">did</em> love him. God knows I loved him!" Virginia
+cried. "I loved him with every bit of my soul
+and body. I've loved him, worshipped him, adored
+him ever since I was a child and he was so good to
+me. He was the noblest man that ever lived, and
+now a dirty, sneaking coward has slipped up on him
+and shot him down in cold blood. If I ever meet
+that man, as God is my Judge, I'll—" With a sob
+that was almost a shriek Virginia sank to the door-step
+and lay there, quivering convulsively.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A vast change swept over Ann Boyd. Her big
+face filled with the still blood of deep emotion. She
+heaved a sigh, and, turning towards the interior of
+the room, she said, huskily:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Come on, Luke; don't tease the poor little thing.
+I wouldn't have carried it so far if I could have got
+it out of her any other way. She's yours, dear boy—heart,
+soul, and body."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Hearing these words, Virginia raised her head in
+wonder, just as Luke King emerged from the house.
+He bent over her, and tenderly raised her up. He
+was drawing her closer to him, his fine face aflame
+with tender passion, when Virginia held him firmly
+from her.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Don't! don't!" she said. "If you knew—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I've told him everything, Virginia," Ann broke
+in. "I had to. I couldn't see my dear boy suffering
+like he was, when—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You know—" Virginia began, aghast, "you
+know—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"About you and Chester?" King said, with a light
+laugh. "Yes, I know all about it, and it made me
+think you the grandest, most self-sacrificing little
+girl in all the world. So you thought I was dead?
+That was all gossip. It was only a quarrel that
+amounted to nothing. I understand, now that he
+is sober, that Chester is heartily ashamed of himself."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Half an hour afterwards Ann stood at the gate
+and saw them walking together towards Virginia's
+home. She watched them till they were lost from
+her sight in the dusk, then she went back into the
+house. She stood over the low fire for a moment,
+then said: "I won't get any supper ready. I
+couldn't eat a bite. Meat and bread couldn't shove
+this lump out of my throat. It's pretty, pretty,
+pretty to see those two together that way. I believe
+they have got the sort of thing the Almighty
+really meant love to be. I know <em class="italics">I</em> never got that
+kind, though, as a girl, I dreamt of nothing else—nothing
+from morning till night but that one thing,
+and yet here I am this way—<em class="italics">this way</em>!"</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="xlii">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id43">XLII</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">The next morning the weather was as
+balmy as spring. Ann had taken all
+the coverings from her beds and hung
+them along the fence to catch the
+purifying rays of the sun. Her rag-carpet
+was stretched out on the ground ready to be
+beaten. She was occupied in sweeping the bare
+floor of her sitting-room when a shadow fell across
+the threshold. Looking up, she saw a tall, lean
+man, very ill-clad, his tattered hat in hand, his
+shoes broken at the toes and showing the wearer's
+bare feet.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It's me, Ann," Boyd said. "I couldn't stay
+away any longer. I hope you won't drive me off,
+anyway, before I've got out what I come to say."</p>
+<p class="pnext">She turned pale as she leaned her broom against
+the wall and began to roll her sleeves down her fat
+arms towards her wrists. "Well, I wasn't looking
+for you," she managed to say.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I reckon not, Ann," he returned, a certain wistful
+expression in his voice and strangely softened face;
+"but I had to come. As I say—I had to come and
+speak to you, anyway."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, take a chair," she said, awkwardly. "I've
+got the windows up to let the dust drive out, and
+I'll close them. It's powerful draughty. I don't
+feel it, working like I am, but you might, coming in
+from the outside."</p>
+<p class="pnext">He advanced to one of the straight-backed chairs
+which he remembered so well, and laid an unsteady
+hand on it, but he did not draw it towards him nor
+sit down. Instead, his great, hungry eyes followed
+her movements, as she bustled from one window to
+another, like those of a patient, offending dog.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, why don't you sit down?" She had turned
+back to him, and stood eying his poor aspect with
+strange misgivings and pity. In her comfort and
+luxury, he, with his evidences of poverty and despair,
+struck a strangely discordant note.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He drew the chair nearer, and with quivering
+knees she saw him sink into it, with firmness at the
+beginning and then with the sudden collapse of an
+invalid. She went to a window and looked out.
+Not seeing his horse hitched near by, she came back
+to him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Where did you hitch?" she asked, her voice losing
+firmness.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I didn't have no horse," he said; "I walked,
+Ann. Lawson was hauling wood with the horse.
+He wouldn't have let me take it, anyway. He's got
+awfully contrary here lately. Me 'n' him don't get
+along at all."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Do you mean to tell me—do you mean to tell
+me you walked all that way, in them shoes without
+bottoms, and—and you looking like you've just got
+up from a long sick spell?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I made it all right, Ann, stopping to rest on the
+way." A touch of color seemed to have risen into
+his wan cheeks. "I had to come to-day—as I did
+awhile back—to do my duty, as I saw it. In fact,
+this seems even more my duty. Ann, Jane Hemingway
+came over to Gilmer awhile back. She
+come straight to my house, and, my God, Ann, she
+come and told me she'd been at the bottom of all
+our trouble. She set right in and acknowledged
+that she lied; she said she'd been lying all along
+for spite, because she hated you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And loved you," Ann interposed, quickly. "Yes,
+she came back here, so I've been told, and stood up
+in meeting and said she'd been to see you, and she
+confessed it all in public. I can't find it in my heart
+to be hard with her, Joe. She was only obeying her
+laws of nature, as you have obeyed yours and I
+have mine, and—and as our offspring is now obeying
+hers. Tell me the straight truth, Joe. I reckon
+Nettie still feels strange towards me."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Joe Boyd's mild eyes wavered and sought the fire
+beyond the toes of his ragged shoes.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Tell me the truth, Joe," Ann demanded. "I'm
+entitled to that, anyway."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"She's always been a queer creature," Boyd faltered,
+evasively, without looking up, and she saw
+him nervously laving his bony hands in the sheer,
+unsuggestive emptiness about him. "But you
+mustn't think it's just <em class="italics">you</em> she's against, Ann.
+She's plumb gone back on me, too. The money you
+furnished cleared the place of debt and bought her
+wedding outfit, and she got her man; but not long
+back she found out where the means come from,
+and—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ann's lips tightened in the pause that ensued.
+Her face was set like a grotesque mask of stone.
+She leaned over the fire and pushed a fallen ember
+back under the steaming logs with a poker.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"She couldn't stomach that, I reckon?" Ann said,
+in assumed calmness.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, it made her mad at me. I won't tell you
+all she done or said, Ann. It wouldn't do no good.
+I'm responsible for what she is, I reckon. She might
+have growed up different if she'd had the watchful
+care of—of a mother. What she is, is what any
+female will become under the care of a shiftless man
+like I am."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, you are wrong, Joe," Ann said. "Why it
+is so I don't intend to explain, but Nettie would
+have been like she is under all circumstances.
+Money and plenty of everything might have glazed
+her character over, but down at bottom she'd have
+been what she is. Adversity generally brings out
+all the good that's in a person; the reason it hasn't
+fetched it out in her is because it isn't there, nor
+never has been. You say you and her don't get
+on well?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Not now," he said. "She just as good as driv
+me from home yesterday. She told me point-blank
+that there wasn't room for me, and that when the
+baby comes they would be more crowded and
+pinched than ever. She actually sent Lawson to
+the Ordinary at Springtown to see if there was a
+place on the poor-farm vacant. When I dropped
+onto that, Ann, I come off. For all I know, they
+may have some paper for vagrancy ready to serve
+on me. I don't know where I'm going, but I'm
+not going back to them two, never while there is a
+lingering breath left in my body."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"The poor-farm!" Ann said, half to herself. "To
+think that she would consent to that, and you her
+father."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I think his folks is behind it, Ann. They've got
+a reason for wanting to get rid of me."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"A reason, you say?" Ann was staring at him
+steadily.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Joe Boyd's embarrassment of a moment before
+returned. He twisted his hands together again.
+"Yes; it's like this, Ann," he went on, awkwardly:
+"a short time back Lawson's mother and father got
+onto the fact that you were in good circumstances,
+and it made the biggest change in them you ever
+heard of. They talked it all over the settlement.
+They are hard up, and they couldn't talk of anything
+but how much you was worth, and what you
+had your money invested in, and the like. After
+they got onto that, they never—never paid no attention
+to what had been—been circulated—your
+money covered all that as completely as a ten-foot
+snow. Instead of turning up their noses, as Nettie
+was afraid they would do, it only made them brag
+about how well their boy had done, and what a
+fool I was. They tried all sorts of ways to get
+Nettie interested in some scheme to attract your
+attention, but Nettie would just cry and take on
+and refuse to come over here or to write to you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I understand"—Ann stroked her compressed
+lips with an unsteady hand—"I understand. I've
+never been a natural mother to her; she couldn't
+come to me like that. But you say they turned
+against you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes. You see, the Lawsons got an idea—the
+old woman did, in particular, from something she'd
+picked up—that it was <em class="italics">me</em> that stood between you
+and Nettie. They thought you and me had had such
+a serious falling-out that a proud woman like you
+never would have anything to do with Nettie as long
+as I was about, and that the best thing was to shove
+me off so the reconciliation would work faster. The
+truth is, they said that would please you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I see, I see," Ann said. "And they set about
+putting you at the poor-farm."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes; they seemed to think that was as good a
+place as any. And they could get all the proof
+necessary to put me there, for I hadn't a cent to my
+name nor a whole rag to my back; and, Ann, for
+the last three months I haven't been able to do a
+lick o' work. I've had a strange sort of hurting all
+down my left side, and my right ankle seems affected
+in the same way."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ann Boyd suddenly turned away. Through the
+window she had seen the wind blowing one of her
+sheets from the fence, and she went out and put
+it in place. He limped out into the sunlight and
+stood at the little, sagging gate a few yards from her.
+Something of his old dignity and gallantry of manner
+was on him: he still held his hat in his hand, his thin,
+iron-gray hair exposed to the warm rays of the sun.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I'd better be going, Ann," he said. "There
+is no telling when somebody might come along and
+see me here, and start the talk you hate so much.
+I come all the way here to tell you how low and
+mean I feel for taking Jane Hemingway's word instead
+of yours, and how plumb sorry I am. You
+and me may never meet again this side of the Seat
+of Judgment, and I'll say this if I never speak again.
+Ann, the only days of perfect happiness I ever had
+was here with you, and, if all of it was to do over
+again, I'd suffer torture by fire rather than believe
+you anything but an angel from heaven. Oh, Ann,
+it was just my poor, weak inferiority to you that
+made me misjudge you. If I'd ever been a <em class="italics">real</em> man—a
+man worthy of a woman like you—I'd have
+snapped my fingers at all that was said, but I was
+obeying my laws, as you say. I simply wasn't deep
+enough nor high enough to do you justice."</p>
+<p class="pnext">He drew the little gate ajar and dragged his tired
+feet through the opening. The fence was now between
+them. She looked down the road. A woman
+under a sun-bonnet and little shawl was coming
+towards them. By a strange fatality it was Jane
+Hemingway, but she was not to pass directly by
+them, as her path homeward turned sharply to the
+left a hundred yards below. They both recognized
+her.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't know fully what you mean, Joe," Ann
+said, softly, "but if you mean by what you just said
+that you'd be willing now to—to come back—if
+<em class="italics">that's</em> what you mean, I'd have something to say
+that maybe, in justice to myself, I ought to say."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"<em class="italics">Would</em> I come back? Would I? Oh, Ann, how
+could you doubt that, when you see how miserable
+and sorry I feel. God knows I'd never feel worthy
+of you; but if you would—if you only could—let
+me stay, I—"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I couldn't consent to <em class="italics">that</em>, Joe—that's the point,"
+Ann answered, firmly. "Anything else on earth
+but <em class="italics">that</em>. I expect to provide for Nettie in a
+substantial way, and I expect to have a lawyer make
+it one of the main conditions that her income depends
+on her good treatment of you as long as you
+and she live. I expect to do that, but the other
+matter is different. A woman of my stamp has her
+pride and her rights, Joe. I've been through a lot,
+but I can endure just so much and no more. If—if
+you <em class="italics">did</em> come back, and we was married over
+again, it would go out to the world that you had
+taken <em class="italics">me</em> back, and I couldn't stand that. My very
+womanhood rises up and cries out against that in a
+voice that rings clear to the end of truth and
+justice and woman's eternal rights. Joe, I'm too
+big and pure in <em class="italics">myself</em> to let the world say a man
+who was—was—I'm going to say it—was little
+enough to doubt my word for the best part of my
+days had at last taken <em class="italics">me</em> back—taken me back
+when my lonely life's sun was on the decline. No,
+no, never; for the sake of unborn girl infants who
+may have to meet what I fell under when I was too
+young to know the difference between the smile of
+hell and the smile of heaven, I say No! We'd better
+live out our days in loneliness apart—you frail and
+uncared for, and me on here without a friend or
+companion—than to sanction such a baleful thing
+as that."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Then I'll tell you what you let <em class="italics">me</em> do," Boyd
+said, with a flare of his old youthful adoration in
+his face. "Let me get down on my knees, Ann,
+and crawl with my nose in the dust to everybody
+that we ever knew and tell them that I'd begged
+and begged for mercy, and at last Ann had taken
+<em class="italics">me</em> back, weak and broken as I am—weak, ashamed,
+and unworthy, but back with her in the place I lost
+through my own narrowness and cowardice. Let
+me do that, Ann—oh, let me do that! I can't go
+away. I'd die without you. I've loved you all,
+all these years and had you in my mind night and
+day."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ann was looking at the ground. The blood had
+mounted red and warm into her face. Suddenly
+she glanced down the road. Jane Hemingway was
+just turning into the path leading to her home; her
+eyes were fastened on them. She paused and stood
+staring.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Poor thing!" Ann said, her moist, glad eyes fixed
+upon Jane. "She is as sorry and repentant as she
+can be. Her only hope right now, Joe, is that we'll
+make it up. She used to love you, too, Joe. You
+are the only man she ever did love. Let's wave our
+hands to her so she will understand that—we have
+come to an understanding."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, Ann, do you mean—" But Ann, with a
+flushed, happy face, was waving her hand at her
+old enemy. As for Boyd, he lowered his head to
+the fence and sobbed.</p>
+<p class="center pnext">THE END</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 5em">
+</div>
+<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 37551 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
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