fer the ticket wagin, an' the band
begun to play inside the tent. Be I taxin' your patience over the
limit?" said David, breaking off in his story and addressing Mrs. Cullom
more directly.

"No, I guess not," she replied; "I was jes' thinkin' of a circus I went
to once," she added with an audible sigh.

"Wa'al," said David, taking a last farewell of the end of his cigar,
which he threw into the grate, "mebbe what's comin' 'ill int'rist ye
more 'n the rest on't has. I was standin' gawpin' 'round, list'nin' to
the band an' watchin' the folks git their tickets, when all of a suddin
I felt a twitch at my hair--it had a way of workin' out of the holes in
my old chip straw hat--an' somebody says to me, 'Wa'al, sonny, what you
thinkin' of?' he says. I looked up, an' who do you s'pose it was? It was
Billy P. Cullom! I knowed who he was, fer I'd seen him before, but of
course he didn't know me. Yes, ma'am, it was Billy P., an' wa'n't he
rigged out to kill!"

The speaker paused and looked into the fire, smiling. The woman started
forward facing him, and clasping her hands, cried, "My husband! What'd
he have on?"

"Wa'al," said David slowly and reminiscently, "near 's I c'n remember,
he had on a blue broadcloth claw-hammer coat with flat gilt buttons, an'
a double-breasted plaid velvet vest, an' pearl-gray pants, strapped down
over his boots, which was of shiny leather, an' a high pointed collar
an' blue stock with a pin in it (I remember wonderin' if it c'd be real
gold), an' a yeller-white plug beaver hat."

At the description of each article of attire Mrs. Cullom nodded her
head, with her eyes fixed on David's face, and as he concluded she broke
out breathlessly, "Oh, yes! Oh, yes! David, he wore them very same
clo'es, an' he took me to that very same show that very same night!"
There was in her face a look almost of awe, as if a sight of her
long-buried past youth had been shown to her from a coffin.

Neither spoke for a moment or two, and it was the widow who broke the
silence. As David had conjectured, she was interested at last, and sat
leaning forward with her hands clasped in her lap.

"Well," she exclaimed, "ain't ye goin' on? What did he say to ye?"

"Cert'nly, cert'nly," responded David. "I'll tell ye near 's I c'n
remember, an' I c'n remember putty near. As I told ye. I felt a twitch
at my hair, an' he said, 'What be you thinkin' about, sonny?' I looked
up at him, an' looked away quick. 'I dunno,' I says, dig