"Well, Mr. Halloween had it from a man in Applegate who had it from a man in Petersburg who had it from a man in Richmond."
"Had what?"
"That Mr. Jonathan had been waitin" on her steady for some months, an"
"twas mo" likely than not to end in marriage. She"s a good girl, is Molly. I ain"t got no use for a woman that don"t stand up for her s.e.x in the face of men."
"True, true," admitted her hearers solemnly, one after another, for none among them had ever dared to defy the source of so many benefactions.
"Thar"re some that thinks morals ain"t meant for any but women," she pursued, "but I ain"t one of "em, as William Ming can testify, that holds to that view. Viciousness is viciousness whether it be male or female, and Mr. Mullen himself in the pulpit couldn"t convince me that it don"t take two to make an impropriety."
"True, true," they repeated, belying themselves under coercion in the accents of the chorus in a Greek drama. ""Tis true, ma"am, as you speak it."
"Thar were some mean enough to side against the po" innocent from the hour of her birth," she continued oracularly, while she looked severely at Solomon, who nodded in response, "an" these same folks have been preachin" over her an" pintin" at her ever sence she larned to crawl out of the cradle. But thar never was a kinder heart or a quicker hand in trouble than Molly"s, an" if she did play fast and loose with the men, was it any worse, I"d like to know, than they deserve?"
"Thar"s truth in what you say, ma"am, thar"s a deal of truth in it,"
they agreed, nodding dejected craven heads over their pipes. Like all born politicians, their eye was for the main chance rather than for the argument, and they found it easier to forswear a conviction than to forego a comfort.
"Well, I"m roastin" a young possum along with the squirrel stew, so you"d better work up an appet.i.te," she said in a mollified tone at at the end of her lecture, as though she were desirous of infusing a more ardent spirit into them before her departure.
When the barn door closed behind her, a sigh of relief, half stifled through fear of detection, pa.s.sed round the group.
"Thar goes a woman in a thousand," observed old Adam, edging nearer the bin.
"In a million--let"s make it a million," urged Solomon Hatch.
"If they were all like that the world would be different, Mr.
Doolittle," remarked Jim Halloween.
"Ah, yes, it would be different," agreed old Adam, and he sighed again.
"Thar"d be strict walkin" among us, I reckon," said his son.
"An" a chalk line the same as we draw for the s.e.x," added Solomon Hatch.
"Sin would be scarce then an" life earnest," remarked William Ming, who had alluded to Betsey in the most distant terms ever since he had married her.
"We"d abide by the letter like the women, not by the spirit as we do,"
reflected Solomon.
They sighed for the third time more heavily, and the dried husks on the floor around the bin rattled as though a strong wind had entered.
"But she"s one in a million, Mr. Doolittle," protested Solomon, after a pause, and his tone had grown cheerful.
"Yes, I reckon it"s a million. Thar ain"t mo" than one in a million of that rare sort," responded old Adam, falling to work with a zest.
"Was that ar young possum she spoke of the one yo" dawg Bess treed day befo" yesterday, William?" inquired Jim Halloween, whose hopes were centred upon the reward of his labours.
"Naw! that was an old un," replied William. "But thar never was a better possum dawg than that Bess of ours. I declar, she"s got so much sense that she"ll tree anything that grins at her, whether it"s n.i.g.g.e.r or possum. Ain"t that so, old gal?" he inquired of the spotted hound on a bed of husks at his side. "It wan"t no longer than last week that she kept that little n.i.g.g.e.r of Uncle Boaz"s up a persimmon tree for mo"n an hour."
"Thar"s some n.i.g.g.e.rs that look so much like possums when they git up in persimmon branches that it takes a sharp eye to tell the difference,"
observed Tim Mallory.
"Well, I"m partial to possum," remarked old Adam. "When all"s said, thar ain"t a better meat to the taste as long as it"s plump an" juicy. Will you hand on that jug of cider, Tim? It"s wonderful the way corn shuckin"
manages to parch the throat an" whet the appet.i.te."
The miller, who had declined Betsey"s feast of possum, went out as soon as he had finished his pipe, and turned into the sunken road that led to Solomon Hatch"s. In the little "best room," which was opened only for "courtings" or funerals, he found Judy seated under a dim lamp with a basket of darning in her lap.
"I was over at Mrs. Mullen"s this morning," she explained, "an" she told me her eyesight was failing, so I offered to do her darnin"."
Slipping a small round gourd into the toe of a man"s black sock, she examined it attentively, with her needle poised in the lamplight. Then bending her head slightly sideways, she surveyed her st.i.tches from another angle, while she smoothed the darn with short caressing strokes over the gourd. He thought how capable and helpful she was, and from the cheerful energy with which she plied her needle, he judged that it gave her pleasure merely to be of use. What he did not suspect was that her wedding garments had been thrust aside as of less importance than Mrs.
Mullen"s basket of darning. She was just the girl for a farmer"s wife, he told himself as he watched her--plain and sensible, the kind that would make a good mother and a good manager. And all the time a voice in the back of his brain was repeating distinctly. "They say it will end in a marriage--they say it will end in a marriage." But this voice seemed to come from a distance, and to have no connection either with his thought or with his life. It was independent of his will, and while it was speaking, he went on calmly thinking of Judy"s children and of how well and properly she would bring them up.
"I went over again to look at the steer to-day," he said, after a moment. "There"s a Jersey cow, too, I think of buying."
She nodded, pausing in her work, yet keeping her gaze fixed on the point of her needle. If he had looked at her darning, he would have seen that it was woven of exquisite and elaborate st.i.tches--such st.i.tches as went into ecclesiastical embroideries in the Middle Ages.
"They"re the best kind for b.u.t.ter," she observed, and carefully ran her needle crosswise in and out of the threads.
Conversation was always desultory between them, and when it flagged, as it did now, they could sit for hours in the composed and unembarra.s.sed silence of persons who meet upon the firm basis of mutual a.s.sistance in practical matters. Their relation was founded upon the simple law of racial continuance, which is as indifferent to the individual as it is to the abstract, apotheosis of pa.s.sion.
"I"m going to Applegate to-morrow to order a new mill-stone," he said at last, when he rose. "Is there anything you would like me to get for you?"
She reflected a moment. "I need a quarter of a yard of braid to finish the green dress I am making. Could you match it?"
"I"ll try if you"ll give me a sample."
Laying her work aside for the first time, she hunted amid a number of coloured spools in her basket, and brought to light a bit of silver braid, which she handed to him.
"Was Mr. Mullen at your house to-day, Abel?" she asked suddenly, turning her face from the lamp.
"Yes, he comes to see Blossom now, but she doesn"t appear to care for him. I thought she did once, didn"t you?"
"Yes, I thought she did, but that was when he was in love with Molly, wasn"t it?"
For an instant he gazed at the bit of braid, as though his soul were intent upon unravelling the intricate pattern.
"I wonder whether it is that we get a thing when we stop wanting it or that we merely stop wanting it when we get it?" he demanded pa.s.sionately of fate.
But Judy had no mind for dubious philosophies. The thing she wanted she knew she should never get and she knew as well that, in all likelihood, she should never stop wanting it. Only a pa.s.sionate soul in a commonplace body could have squandered itself with such superb prodigality.
"I don"t know," she answered wearily, "I"ve never noticed much either what people get or what they want."
"Well, Blossom wanted Mr. Mullen once and now he wants Blossom. I wish mother didn"t have so poor an opinion of him."
She flushed and looked up quickly, for in her heart she felt that she hated Sarah Revercomb. A disgust for her coming marriage swept over her.
Then she told herself stubbornly that everybody married sooner or later, and that anyway her stepmother would never forgive her if she broke off with Abel.
"She doesn"t even go to his church. I don"t see what right she has to find fault with him," she said.