right
to take a telephone.' You see," he explained to Henderson, "unless I can
get somebody to go in with me they won't come out this branch road
except for a price _I_ can't pay. I'd spoke to Wright about it once
before; but he put me off, saying folks talked too much anyway, and all
he asked was peace and quiet--guess you know about how much he talked
himself. But I thought maybe if I went to the house and talked about it
before his wife, and said all the women-folks liked the telephones, and
that in this lonesome stretch of road it would be a good thing--well, I
said to Harry that that was what I was going to say--though I said at
the same time that I didn't know as what his wife wanted made much
difference to John--"

Now, there he was!--saying things he didn't need to say. Mrs. Hale tried
to catch her husband's eye, but fortunately the county attorney
interrupted with:

"Let's talk about that a little later, Mr. Hale. I do want to talk about
that, but I'm anxious now to get along to just what happened when you
got here."

When he began this time, it was very deliberately and carefully:

"I didn't see or hear anything. I knocked at the door. And still it was
all quiet inside. I knew they must be up--it was past eight o'clock. So
I knocked again, louder, and I thought I heard somebody say, 'Come in.'
I wasn't sure--I'm not sure yet. But I opened the door--this door,"
jerking a hand toward the door by which the two women stood, "and there,
in that rocker"--pointing to it--"sat Mrs. Wright."

Every one in the kitchen looked at the rocker. It came into Mrs. Hale's
mind that that rocker didn't look in the least like Minnie Foster--the
Minnie Foster of twenty years before. It was a dingy red, with wooden
rungs up the back, and the middle rung was gone, and the chair sagged to
one side.

"How did she--look?" the county attorney was inquiring.

"Well," said Hale, "she looked--queer."

"How do you mean--queer?"

As he asked it he took out a note-book and pencil. Mrs. Hale did not
like the sight of that pencil. She kept her eye fixed on her husband, as
if to keep him from saying unnecessary things that would go into that
note-book and make trouble.

Hale did speak guardedly, as if the pencil had affected him too.

"Well, as if she didn't know what she was going to do next. And kind
of--done up."

"How did she seem to feel about your coming?"

"Why, I don't think she minded--one way or other. She didn't pay mu