es, an' she says what with bein' so
dumbfoundered, an' what with him bein' the minister into the bargain,
she went along to the station thinkin' as maybe she'd be able to do it.

"Well, Mrs. Lathrop, I wish you could hear Mrs. Macy for that ain't
nothin' but the beginnin', whatever you may think, an' the rest gets
awfuller an' awfuller!

"In the first place talkin' so long for the minister made her have to
run for the train, an' _you_ know what Mrs. Macy is on a run. She said
she got so hot, as she was not only on a run but mostly on a pour all
the way to town. Why, she says it was most terrible an' she says nothin'
ever give her such a idea as she was a born fool afore, for with it all
she had to keep on sayin' 'Two legs sat upon three legs' as regular as a
clock, an' she was so afraid she'd forget it that she did n't dare even
take her usual little nap on the way an' so had no choice but to land
all wore out.

"Well, as soon as she was landed she remembered about Luther Stott's
wife bein' on the back of the piece of paper an' consequently tore up
along with her shoes, an' she says the start she got over rememberin'
havin' torn up Luther Stott's wife drove what 'Two legs sat upon three
legs' was to remind her of clean out of her head, not to speak of havin'
long since lost track of the way to get any connection between that an'
her shoes.

"Well, Mrs. Lathrop, I only wish you'd of been there to hear! She says
nobody ever did afore! She says she went up one street an' down another
like a lost soul, lookin' for a policeman. She says she felt she did n't
know where to find nothin'. She could n't look for Luther in the
directory 'cause he's long dead an' only his wife lives there, an' as
for her shoes she was clean beside herself. She says she was so mad at
the minister as she'd have throwed away her baptism an' her marriage
then an' there just because it was ministers as done 'em both to her,
if there'd been anyway to get 'em off. Finally she just put her pride
into her pocket, went into a shoe store an' asked 'em openly if 'Two
legs sat upon three legs' reminded 'em of anythin' in the way of shoes.
She says the man looked at her in a way as passed all belief an' said it
reminded him more of pants than shoes.

"Well, she says she went out into the street at that an' her heart was
too low for any use; but the end was n't yet, for as she was wanderin'
along who should she meet but Drusilla Cobb?

"Well, Mrs. Lathrop,