rself. "All right," said she.

She heard him bustling around here and there, rattling pans, stumbling
over sticks of wood on the floor.

"Haven't you any chickens?" she asked.

"No, ma'am, I ain't got around to it. I was a-going to have some."

"I'd like awfully well to have some chickens. Those little yellow
things, in my hands----"

"We can get plenty, ma'am. I can drive out just a leetle ways, about
forty miles, to where the Mormons is at, and I can get plenty of 'em,
even them yeller ones."

"Where is the dog? Haven't you got a dog?"

"No, ma'am, I ain't. The wolves got mine last winter, and I ain't got
round to getting another one yet. What kind would you like?"

"Why, a collie--aren't they nice?"

"Yes, ma'am, I reckon. Only thing is, they might take me fer a sheep
man. I'd hate that."

"Well--even a little dog?"

"I'll get you one, any kind you want. I allow myself, a dog is a heap
of comfort. I'm about the only homesteader in this valley that ain't
got one right now. Some has sever'l."

"I can make the coffee, I'm sure," she said, still endeavoring to be of
use. But she was skimpy in her measurement, and he reproached her.

"That won't make it strong enough. Don't you like it right strong?"

"Well, Annie and I," said she honestly, "couldn't afford to make it
very strong. Annie was my roommate, you see."

"We can afford anything we want out here, ma'am. I got a credit at the
store. We're going to make six hundred tons of hay right out there in
them medders this summer. We're going to have plenty of money. Hay is
mighty high. I can get eight dollars a ton standing out there, and not
put a machine into it myself. Wheat is two dollars and twenty cents a
bushel, the lowest."

"Why, that's fine, that's fine!" said she. "I'm so glad." She knew
nothing in the world about hay or wheat.

The odors from the stove appealed pleasantly enough to the tired woman
who sat on the box chair, in the same place she originally had taken.
"Draw up," said Sim Gage. But it was clumsy work for her to eat, newly
blind. She was so sensitive that she made no pretence of concealing
her tears.

"I wouldn't worry none, ma'am," said Sim Gage, "if I could help it. I
wouldn't worry any more'n I could help, anyways. I'll put things where
you can find 'em, and pretty soon you'll get used to it."

"But at least I can wash the dishes."

"That's so," said he. "That's so. I reckon you could do that.