ed?"

The candidate for the next world looked very much embarrassed.

"Well, 'Mandy," he began lamely, "I can't say 'zactly ez hit's any
pusson's jes yit. But hit's gwine be mine when de summons comes."

"Where'd you git it at?" demanded his Nemesis.

His eyes shifted guiltily.

"De foundry boss done been heah las' week, an' he gimme some money. I
'lowed I was layin' hit up fer a rainy day."

"An' you mean to tell me," she cried, "that you took that money an'
spent it for a coffin, a white one with shiny handles, an' a satin
bolster that'll done be wore out, an' et up by moths, 'fore you ever git
a chancet to use it?"

"Couldn't you fix hit up in terbaccy er mothballs ag'in' de time I need
hit?" Gordon Lee asked helplessly.

But Amanda was too exasperated this time to argue the matter. Fifty
dollars' worth of coffin in the coal-shed and fifty cents' worth of coal
in the bin constituted a situation that demanded her entire attention.

For six months now Gordon Lee had remained in bed, firm in the belief
that he could not walk on account of the spell that had been laid upon
him. During that time he had come to take a luxurious satisfaction in
the interest his case was exciting in the neighborhood. Being in
excellent physical condition, he could afford the melancholy joy of
playing with the idea of death. He spent hours discussing the details of
his funeral, which had assumed in his mind the proportions of a pageant.

Amanda, on the other hand, overworked and anxious, and compelled to
forego her lodges and societies, became more and more irascible and
depressed. In some subtle way she was aware that the sympathy of the
colored community was solidly with Gordon Lee. Nobody now asked her how
he was. Nobody came to the cabin when she was there, though it was
apparent that visitors were frequent during her absence. Aunt Kizzy had
evidently been busy in the neighborhood.

One night Amanda sat very long over the stove rolling her hair into
little wads about the length and thickness of her finger, then tightly
wrapping each with a stout bit of cord to take out the kink. When Gordon
Lee roused himself now and then to inquire suspiciously what she was
doing, she answered with ominous calm.

"Jes steddyin', that's all."

Her meditations evidently resulted in a plan of action, for the next
night she came home from her work in a most mysterious and unusual mood.
Gordon Lee heard her moving some heavy and cumbersome arti