there." And he jerked his head toward the
door in the partition to the left. Susan got up, moved toward
the indicated door. Jeb laughed. "Don't you think you might take
off your hat and stay awhile?" said he.

She removed her hat, put it on top of the bundle which she left
on the floor beside the rocking chair. She went into the kitchen
dining-room. It was a squalid room, its ceiling and walls
smoke-stained from the cracked and never polished stove in the
corner. The air was foul with the strong old onions stewing on
the stove. In a skillet slices of pork were frying. On the back
of the stove stood a pan of mashed potatoes and a tin coffeepot.
On the stained flowered cloth which covered the table in the
middle of the room had been laid coarse, cracked dishes and
discolored steel knives and forks with black wooden handles.
Susan, half fainting, dropped into a chair by one of the open
windows. A multitude of fat flies from the stable were running
and crawling everywhere, were buzzing about her head. She was
aroused by Jeb's voice: "Why, what the--the damnation! You've
fell asleep!"

She started up. "In a minute!" she muttered, nervously.

And somehow, with Jeb's eyes on her from the doorway, she got
the evil-smelling messes from the stove into table dishes from
the shelves and then on the table, where the flies descended
upon them in troops of scores and hundreds. Jeb, in his shirt
sleeves now, sat down and fell to. She sat opposite him, her
hands in her lap. He used his knife in preference to his fork,
leaping the blade high, packing the food firmly upon it with
fork or fingers, then thrusting it into his mouth. He ate
voraciously, smacking his lips, breathing hard, now and then
eructing with frank energy and satisfaction.

"My stummick's gassy right smart this year," he observed after
a huge gulp of coffee. "Some says the heavy rains last spring
put gas into everything, but I dunno. Maybe it's Keziah's
cooking. I hope you'll do better. Why, you ain't eatin' nothin'!"

"I'm not hungry," said Susan. Then, as he frowned suspiciously,
"I had a late breakfast."

He laughed. "And the marrying, too," he suggested with a flirtatious
nod and wink. "Women's always upset by them kind of things."

When he had filled himself he pushed his chair back. "I'll set
with you while you wash up," said he. "But you'd better take off
them Sunday duds. You'll find some calikers that belonged to maw
in a bo