Viewing the remains was considered a religious duty, and the men from outside, and even the boys from behind the smoke-house, felt constrained to come in and pa.s.s in shuddering horror before the still face whose breath did not dim the gla.s.s above it. Most of them hurried by the box with only a swift side glance down at the strange thing within.
Then the bearers lifted the coffin and slipped it into the platform-spring wagon, which was backed up to the door. The other teams loaded up, and the procession moved off, down the perilously muddy road toward the village burying-ground.
In this way was John Williams, a hard-working, honorable Welshman, buried. His death furnished forth a sombre, dramatic entertainment such as he himself had ceremoniously attended many times. The funeral trotters whom he had seen at every funeral in the valley were now in at his death, and would be at each other"s death, until the black and yellow earth claimed them all.
A ceremony almost as interesting to the gossips as the burial was the reading of the will, to which only the family were invited. After the return of Emma, her husband, and Sarah from the cemetery, Deacon Williams read the dead man"s bequests, seated in the best room, which was still littered with chairs and damp with mud.
The will was simple and not a surprise to any one. It gave equal division of all the property to the nieces.
"Well, now, when"ll we have the settlement?" asked the Deacon.
"Just"s you say, Deacon," said Emma, meekly.
"Suit yourself," said Harkey; "only it "ad better come soon. Sooner the better--seedin"s coming on."
"Well, to-morrow is Friday, why not Sat.u.r.day?"
"All right, Sat.u.r.day." All agreed.
As Harkey drove off down the road he said to his wife: "The sooner we have it, the fewer things "ll git carried off. The Deacon don"t favor me none, and Bill Gray is sweet on Serry, and he"ll bear watchin"."
The Deacon on his part took his chin in his fist and looked after Harkey. "Seemed a little bit anxious, "cordin" to _my_ notion," he said, with a smile.
II
Sat.u.r.day was deliciously warm and springlike, the hens woke in the early dawn with a jocund note in their throats, and the young cattle frisked about the barn-yard, moved to action by the electrical influences of the south wind.
"Clear as a bell overhead," Deacon Williams said.
But Jack Dunlap, Sarah"s hand, said, "n.o.body travels that way."
Long before dawn the noise of the melting water could be heard running with musical tinkle under the ice. The ponds crashed and boomed in long reverberating explosions, as the sinking water heaved it up and let it fall with crackling roar; flights of ducks flashed over, cackling breathlessly as they scurried straight into the north.
Deacon and Sarah arrived early and took possession, for Sarah was to have the eighty which included the house. They were busy getting things ready for the part.i.tion. The Deacon, a.s.sisted by Jack, the hired man, was busy hauling the machinery out of the shed into the open air, while Sarah and a couple of neighbors" girls, with skirts tucked up and towels on their heads, were scouring up pots and pans and dusting furniture in the kitchen.
The girls, strong and handsome in their unsapped animal vigor, enjoyed the innocent display of their bare arms and petticoats.
People from Sand Lake pa.s.sing by wondered what was going on. Gideon Turner had the courage to pull up and call out, for the satisfaction of his wife:--
"What"s going on here this fine morning?"
"Oh, we"re goin" to settle up the estate!" said Sarah. "Why! how de do, Mrs. Turner?"
"W"y, it"s you, is it, Serry?"
"Yes; it"s me,--what they is left of me. I been here sence six o"clock.
I"m getting things ready for the division. Deacon Williams is the ex-e_cu_tor, you know."
"Aha! Less see, you divide equally, I hear."
"Near"s we can get at it. Uncle left me the house eighty, and the valley eighty to Emmy. Deacon"s goin" to parcel out the belongin"s."
Turner looked sly. "How"d Harkey feel?"
Sarah smiled. "I don"t know and care less. He"ll make trouble if he can, but I don"t see how he can. He agreed to have the Deacon do the dividin", and he"ll have to stand by it so far as I can see."
Mrs. Turner looked dubious. "Well, you know Ike Harkey. He looks as though sugar wouldn"t melt in his mouth, but I tell you I"d hate to have dealin"s with him."
Turner broke in: "Well, we must be movin". I s"pose you"ll move right in?"
"Yes. Just as soon"s as this thing"s settled."
"Well, good-by. Come up."
"You come down."
Sarah was a heavy, good-natured woman, a widow with "a raft of children." Probably for that reason her uncle had left her the house, which was large and comfortable. As she stood looking down the road, one of the girls came out to the gate. She was a plump, strong creature, a neighbor"s girl who had volunteered to help.
"Anybody coming?"
"Yes. I guess--no, it"s going the other way. Ain"t it a nice day?"
That was as far as she could carry the utterance of her feeling, but all the morning she had felt the wonderful power of the air. The sun had risen incredibly warm. The wind was in the south, and the crackling, booming roar of ice in the ponds and along the river was like winter letting go its iron grip upon the land. Even the old cows shook their horns, and made comical attempts to frisk with the yearlings. Sarah knew it was foolish, but she felt like a girl that morning--and Bill was coming up the road.
In the midst of the joy of the spring day stood the house, desolate and empty, out of which its owner had been carried to a bed in the cold, clinging clay of the little burying-ground.
The girls and Sarah worked swiftly, brushing, cleaning, setting aside, giving little thought to even the beauty of the morning, which entered their blood unconsciously.
"Well, how goes it?" asked a quick, jovial voice.
The girls gave screams of affected fright.
"Why, Deacon! You nearly scared the life out of us."
Deacon Williams was always gallant.
"I didn"t know I was given to scaring the ladies," he said. "Well, who"s here?"
"n.o.body but us so far."
"Hain"t seen nothing o" Harkey?"
"Not a thing. He sent word he"d be on hand, though."
"M--, well, we"ve got the machinery invoiced. Guess I"ll look around and kind o" get the household things in my mind"s eye," said the Deacon, taking on the air of a public functionary.