"An' no more account than a mole in the yearth," said a third.

The ghost at the window listened in aghast dismay and became pale in
sober truth, for these boon companions he had accounted the best friends
he had in the world. They had no word of regret, no simple human pity;
even that facile meed of casual praise that he was "powerful pleasant
company" was withheld. And for these and such as these he had bartered
the esteem of the community at large and his filial duty and obedience;
had spurned the claims of good citizenship and placed himself in
jeopardy of the law; had forfeited the hand of the woman he loved.

"Minta Elladine Riggs ain't keerin' nohow fer sech ez Watt," said the
semblance of the setter, with a knowing nod of his red head. "I war up
thar at the mill whenst the news kem ter-day, an' she war thar ter git
some seconds. I hev hearn women go off in high-strikes fer a lovyer's
death--even Mis' Simton, though hern was jes her husband, an 'a mighty
pore one at that. But Minta Elladine jes listened quiet an' composed, an'
never said one word."

The batten shutter was trembling in the ghost's hand. In fact, so
convulsive was his grasp that it shook the hook from the staple, and the
shutter slowly opened as he stood at gaze.

Perhaps it was the motion that attracted the attention of the dealer,
perhaps the influx of a current of fresh air. He lifted his casual
glance and beheld, distinct in the light from the kerosene lamp and
imposed on the white background of the mist, that familiar and
individual face, pallid, fixed, strange, with an expression that he had
never seen it wear hitherto. One moment of suspended faculties, and he
sprang up with a wild cry that filled the little shanty with its shrill
terror. The others gazed astounded upon him, then followed the direction
of his starting eyes, and echoed his frantic fright. There was a wild
scurry toward the door. The overturning of the lamp was imminent, but it
still burned calmly on the elevated hearth, while the shoeing-stool
capsized in the rush, and the red head of its lowly occupant was lowlier
still, rolling on the dirt floor. Even with this disadvantage, however,
he was not the hindmost, and reached the exit unhurt. The only specific
damage wrought by the panic was to the big barn-like doors of the place.
They had been stanchly barred against the possible intrusion of the
constable of the district, and the fastenings in so critical an
emergency cou