red off and she got in a good humor and joined in on the questions and was her lovingest best self, and so the rest of the supper went along gay and pleasant. But the old man he did

ing and scraping, and said his Marse Brace was out at the stile and wanted his brother, and was getting tired waiting supper for

't spoken so, and then he says, very gentle: "But you needn't say that, Billy; I was took sudden an

inking and thinking, since these troubles come on, and she allowed he didn't more'n about half know what he was about when the thinking spells was on him; and she said he walked in his sleep considerable more now than he used to, and sometimes wandered around over the house and even outdoors in his sleep,

e and put one hand in his and one arm around his waist and walked with him; and he smiled down on her, and reached down and kissed her; and so, little b

etched up in the watermelon-patch and et one, and had a good deal of talk. And Tom said he'd bet the quarreling was all Jubiter's fault, and he was

two hours, and then it was pretty late, and when we got ba

n baize work-gown was gone, and said it wasn't gone when he wen

uldn't sleep. We found we couldn't, neither. So we set up a long time, and smoked and talked in a low voice, and felt pretty dull and d

see a man poking around in the yard like he didn't know just what he wanted to do, but it was pretty dim and we couldn't see him good. Then he started for the stil

d see where he's going to. There, he's turned down by the tobacker-f

had nightmares, a million of them. But before dawn we was awake again, because meantime a storm had come up and been raging, and the thunder and lightnin

that chased Hal Clayton and Bud Dixon away would spread the thing around in a half an hour, and every neighbor that heard it would shin out and fly around from one farm to t'

d run across some of the people and see if they would say anything about i

ng we was going to stay, and all that, but none of them said a word about that thing; which was just astonishing, and no mistake. Tom said he believed if we went to the sycamores we would find that body laying there solitary and alone, a

ouldn't budge another step, for all Tom's persuading. But he couldn't hold in; he'd GOT to see if the boots was safe on

it's

tonished

u don't

trampled some, but if there was any blood it's all washed

a look myself; and it was just as Tom

gone. Don't you reckon the thieves

does. Now where'd they h

care. They've got the boots, and that's all I cared about. H

o know what come of him; but he said we'd lay low and keep dark

red and put out and disappointed and swindle