e
only thing that will make married life bearable. A dead certainty in
love-matters is killin.'"

"Good!" Henley chuckled. "Hettie saw through her, and headed her off in
fine style."

"Well, 'out of the heart the mouth speaketh,'" quoted Jason. "And the
truth is, Alf, I railly don't think Hettie would care a hill o' beans if
you _did_ sort o' prove that you was up to snuff. You ort to profit by
what's gone before in matrimony as you have in tradin' amongst men.
Dick, when all is said an' done, was her maiden choice, an' if thar ever
was a woman roustabout, a feller that had a bow and a scrape for every
pair o' bright eyes that come his way, that feller was Dick Wrinkle. He
kept Hettie in hot water, and I don't know but what the cold bath you've
giv' 'er has sort o' gone agin her constitution. She's a critter that
likes what she can't git better 'n what lies right at hand wigglin' to
attract attention. No, you needn't be afeard of any family row. The
truth is, I think Hettie is some better pleased than she has been for a
long time. I reckon she's beginnin' to feel a sort o' pride in you. It
ain't from her that you'll have trouble, but from Carrie Wade."

"Trouble, how?" Henley asked, impatiently, as he was turning toward the
lights in the farm-house.

"Why, from her clatterin' tongue. If she'll talk like that to us, you
know she will about town, and it takes a powerful small spark to set a
haystack of scandal afire. Folks think Hettie has driv' you pretty far,
anyway, with her odd, graveyard notions, and it wouldn't take much
to--to start a ugly report."

Henley furiously tore himself from the old gossip and went into the
house. As he paused at the water-shelf and filled a basin to wash the
dust of his drive from his face and hands, he saw his wife moving about
in the dimly lighted kitchen, and was struck by her easy and obviously
gratified bearing. He was drying his hands on a towel which hung from a
roller on the wall when Mrs. Wrinkle came out and suddenly faced him.
She caught her breath, stared in surprise for a moment, then turned into
the kitchen. Henley saw her clutch his wife's sleeve and give it a
warning pull. She meant to speak in an undertone, but her piping voice
slipped a cog and Henley heard her say:

"They didn't run off; he's back! He's out thar wash--"

"Sh!" came from Mrs. Henley's lips. "Be quiet; you don't know what you
are talking about."

"Why, Carrie Wade said him an' Dixie Hart had 'lo