e.

"Our courtin' was done mainly in the cemetery. I'd just laid my fourth
away in his proper place an' had the letterin' all cut nice on his side of
the monumint, an' I was doin' the plantin' on the grave when I met my
fate--my fifth fate, I'm speakin' of now. I allers aimed to do right by my
husbands when they was dead no less 'n when they was livin', an' I allers
planted each one's favourite flower on his last restin'-place, an' planted
it thick, so 's when the last trump sounded an' they all riz up, there
wouldn't be no one of 'em that could accuse me of bein' partial.

"Some of the flowers was funny for a graveyard. One of 'em loved
sunflowers, an' when blossomin'-time come, you could see a spot of light
in my lot clear from the gate when you went in, an' on sunny days even
from quite a piece outside.

"Geraniums was on the next grave, red an' pink together, as William loved
to see 'em, an' most fittin' an' appropriate. He was a queer-lookin' man,
William was, all bald except for a little fringe of red hair around his
head, an' his bald spot gettin' as pink as anythin' when he got mad. I
never could abide red an' pink together, so I did my best not to rile him;
but la sakes, my dear, red-haired folks is that touchy that you never can
tell what's goin' to rile 'em an' what ain't. Some innercent little remark
is as likely to set 'em off as anythin' else. All the time it's like
carryin' a light into a fireworks place. Drop it once an' the air 'll be
full of sky-rockets, roman candles, pinwheels, an' set pieces till you're
that dazed you don't know where you're livin'. Don't never take no
red-haired one, my dear, if you're anyways set on peace. I never took but
one, but that was enough to set me dead against the breed.

"Well, as I was a-sayin', James begun to woo me in the cemetery. Whenever
you see a man in a cemetery, my dear, you can take it for granted that
he's a new-made widower. After the first week or two, he ain't got no time
to go to no grave, he's so busy lookin' out for the next one. When I see
James a-waterin' an' a-weedin' on the next lot to mine, therefore, I
knowed his sorrer was new, even though the band of crape on his hat was
rusty an' old.

"Bein' fellow-mourners, in a way, we struck up kind of a melancholy
friendship, an' finally got to borrerin' water from each other's
sprinklin' cans an' exchangin' flower seeds an' slips, an' even hull
plants. That old deceiver told me it was his first wife