only woke when the sun was quite
high. I opened my eyes to see Ev'leen Ann about to close the door.

"Oh, did I wake you up?" she said. "I didn't mean to. That little Harris
boy is here with a letter for you."

She spoke with a slightly defiant tone of self-possession. I tried to
play up to her interpretation of her role.

"The little Harris boy?" I said, sitting up in bed. "What in the world
is he bringing me a letter for?"

Ev'leen Ann, with her usual clear perception of the superfluous in
conversation, vouchsafed no opinion on a matter where she had no
information, but went downstairs and brought back the note. It was of
four lines, and--surprisingly enough--from old Mrs. Purdon, who asked me
abruptly if I would have my husband take me to see her. She specified,
and underlined the specification, that I was to come "right off, and in
the automobile." Wondering extremely at this mysterious bidding, I
sought out Paul, who obediently cranked up our small car and carried me
off. There was no sign of Horace about the house, but some distance on
the other side of the village we saw his tall, stooping figure swinging
along the road. He carried a cane and was characteristically occupied in
violently switching off the heads from the wayside weeds as he walked.
He refused our offer to take him in, alleging that he was out for
exercise and to reduce his flesh--an ancient jibe at his bony frame
which made him for an instant show a leathery smile.

There was, of course, no one at Mrs. Purdon's to let us into the tiny,
three-roomed house, since the bedridden invalid spent her days there
alone while 'Niram worked his team on other people's fields. Not knowing
what we might find, Paul stayed outside in the car, while I stepped
inside in answer to Mrs. Purdon's "Come _in_, why don't you!" which
sounded quite as dry as usual. But when I saw her I knew that things
were not as usual.

She lay flat on her back, the little emaciated wisp of humanity, hardly
raising the piecework quilt enough to make the bed seem occupied, and to
account for the thin, worn old face on the pillow. But as I entered the
room her eyes seized on mine, and I was aware of nothing but them and
some fury of determination behind them. With a fierce heat of impatience
at my first natural but quickly repressed exclamation of surprise she
explained briefly that she wanted Paul to lift her into the automobile
and take her into the next township to the Hulett farm.