t, too. I was boys with
them and they'll do it, I think. They've even stood up fer you against
me, sometimes, but mostly fer the sake of the argument, I reckon; but
now they must do it when there's more to stand against than just my
talk. They saw it all to-day--the meanest thing I ever knew! I could
of stood it all except that!" Before they could prevent him he had
struggled half upright in bed, lifting a clinched fist at the town
beyond the windows. "But, by God! when they got so low down they tried
to kill your dog--"

He fell back, choking, in Joe's arms, and the physician bent over him,
but Eskew was not gone, and Ariel, upon the other side of the room,
could hear him whispering again for the restorative. She brought it,
and when he had taken it, went quickly out-of-doors to the side yard.

She sat upon a workman's bench under the big trees, hidden from the
street shrubbery, and breathing deeply of the shaded air, began to cry
quietly. Through the windows came the quavering voice of the old man,
lifted again, insistent, a little querulous, but determined. Responses
sounded, intermittently, from the Colonel, from Peter, and from
Buckalew, and now and then a sorrowful, yet almost humorous, protest
from Joe; and so she made out that the veteran swore his three comrades
to friendship with Joseph Louden, to lend him their countenance in all
matters, to stand by him in weal and woe, to speak only good of him and
defend him in the town of Canaan. Thus did Eskew Arp on the verge of
parting this life render justice.

The gate clicked, and Ariel saw Eugene approaching through the
shrubbery. One of his hands was bandaged, a thin strip of
court-plaster crossed his forehead from his left eyebrow to his hair,
and his thin and agitated face showed several light scratches.

"I saw you come out," he said. "I've been waiting to speak to you."

"The doctor told us to let him have his way in whatever he might ask."
Ariel wiped her eyes. "I'm afraid that means--"

"I didn't come to talk about Eskew Arp," interrupted Eugene. "I'm not
laboring under any anxiety about him. You needn't be afraid; he's too
sour to accept his conge so readily."

"Please lower your voice," she said, rising quickly and moving away
from him toward the house; but, as he followed, insisting sharply that
he must speak with her, she walked out of ear-shot of the windows, and
stopping, turned toward him.

"Very well," she said. "Is it a messa