"I ain't distressin' him half as much as he is me. 'Bout ready to give her another trial, Mose?"

"Want a cup o' vin--vin--vin--"

"Oh, you air gettin' thar."

"Cup o' v--v--vinegar."

"Thank goodness," Margaret exclaimed.

"Thar you go distressin' him," said Jasper.

Margaret took the cup and went into the kitchen and Mose, looking at Starbuck, grinned in self-celebration of his victory.

"Ain't as h--h--hot as it was when it was h--h--h--hotter, is it?"

"Come to think of it, don't believe it is."

"M--m--m--might r--r--r--rain, soon."

"Yes, and it looks like we mout have snow some time next winter."

"Thank y--y--y--you," said Mose; and as Margaret entered and handed him the cup of vinegar he thanked her, rewarded her with a grin, and departed. For some time after his exit nothing was said, but finally Margaret, standing near the window, began to look for the ends of the broken thread of discourse.

"Now, let me see."

To help her out Starbuck volunteered his services. "We had got to whar I was the biggest fool when I tried. Don't you ricolleck?"

"Oh, you want to git back to whar you was tryin' to pick a quarrel with me, do you?"

"No, jest thought I'd help you out."

"It's no sich of a thing. You know you don't love me an' you jest want a chance to tell me so."

"Did it ever hit you, Margaret, that a woman ought to put herself in a condition to be loved? Scoldin' don't fetch out love no mo' than b'ilin'

water would fetch out blossoms."

"I don't scold, and I don't see why you always keep a hintin' that I do.

Scold! I never scolded in my life. You know you git mad every mornin' at breakfust. Man's always mad till he gits suthin' to eat. Scold indeed.

And if I was to scold, which I don't, I'd have a cause."

"Cause! Did you ever know a woman to look fur a cause an' not find one?

Jest make a cause of the needle in the hay-stack an' the woman will find it. And I want to tell you that the mo' causes a woman has the mo'

disagreeable she is."

"Oh, it's no sich of a thing. A woman may slave an' slave an' never go off the place and--"

"Go off the place! Didn't you go to the barbecue over at the cross-roads last year?"

"Last year," she repeated; "it was year befo' last. Yes, an' look how you acted on that day--eat till I was ashamed o' you--acted like you never got anythin' at home. I never was so mortified in my life. Saw you standin' thar with the leg of a shote in yo' hand, a makin' of a speech."

"I was askin' a blessin' over the meat. I admit that I was hungry on that occasion; I'd been savin' myse'f up. Thar ain't no use in goin' to a barbecue unless you take yo' appet.i.te with you."

"But thar's no sense in eatin' till everybody talks about it, goodness knows."

"Who talked about it?"

"Everybody, that's who. Oh, you wouldn't love me if I was a dyin'."

"I'd much ruther have you livin'."

"No you wouldn't. If I was a dyin' it would tickle you mighty nigh to death, you--"

In came Laz Spencer, the boy with the meal-bag on his arm.

"Glad to see you," Starbuck exclaimed, catching him by the hand; and Laz, astonished at the warmth of the welcome, stood mute, as if expecting for something to happen. "You got here jest in time, Laz."

"Howdy, Laz," Margaret greeted him, smoothing her countenance.

"Wall," said he, "ain't a standin' on my head," and speaking to Jasper he added: "Come to fetch yo' meal-bag home."

"About when did you borry it, Laz," Jasper inquired, taking the bag and throwing it upon the table.

"Last fall, some time."

"Well, how did you happen to fetch it back so soon?"

"Oh, jest got to thinkin' about it last month."

"Well, no tellin' what's goin' to happen when a feller gits to thinkin'.

What's the matter with yo' coat-tail?"

"Was a settin' on a stump, drapped off to sleep an' the calf chawed it."

"I do wish you two would hush yo' foolishness," said Margaret. "How's yo' mother, Laz."

"Give her some interestin' news, Laz," said Starbuck. "Tell her the old lady ain't expected to live."

"Now did anybody ever hear the like o' that," Margaret retorted. "I never seed sich a man."

"Mother ain't so powerful well," said Laz. "She ain't bed sick, but she's a chillin' a good deal. Got the shakes when she went down to the creek bottoms. Can't eat nuthin' but spoon vittuls."

Margaret, dismissing the visitor from further attention, took up a coffee-mill and sat down near the fire-place. Starbuck asked Laz how his brother Bill was getting along since the fellow cut him with a knife, an affair of no particular consequence, but serving as an incidental topic for thoughtless talk.

"Sorter slow," said Laz, never changing a line of his countenance. His face was as fixed as a mask, stupid and expressionless. Whenever he smiled it was a neighborhood event.

"Wall, how did it happen, any way?" Starbuck inquired, biting an apple.

"Wall, Bill he war settin' thar on a log, lookin' out over the new ground, not a thinkin' about bein' s...o...b..d nur nuthin', an' this feller jest slipped up an' s...o...b..d him."