Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1888-08-30

husbands reference to his grave. and
was decided. She stepped forward.
and went down on her knees beside the
tree. A thick mass Of piny needles
covered the ground underneath, and
there in q dark hollow lay an egg. 1t
was some little time before she reached
in and took it forth. Once light wind
caused sharp branch to smite her
harshly on the cheek, as if with an
accusing finger; again some of the
resinous twigs dragged at her sleeve
like hands stretched up from the lower
world to pluck her down. She start
ed back. but finally grew firmer. and
laid hold of the egg. Then she fiut-
tered toward the house with a nervous,
uncertain motion, as if blown by the
conflict of her thoughts.
Adkins ate the egg with something
like relish. Il kind o enjoyed my
dinner to-day" he admitted, in rather
surprised tone. ''Mebby ef yeh'd try
to git me up somethin' sorter tasty q
little oftener it wouldn't do me no hurt.
reckon it's better fer all hands,
though, fer me to jest fade away 18th
the winter, kind o. like q snowflake
meltin' in the sun; it's best I shud CO."
Ellen did not reply, but there was 3
curious sternness on her purplish lips.
I'm glad stole it," she thought,
with distinct notion that her soul
was now irrevocably signed over to
perdition. LEI he enjoyed it one
smitch, I'm glad I'm thief; AMI
ami
The next day she stole out to look
under the tree; the egg she saw shin
ing whitley in the sweet-smelling
shadow looked to her as mama must
have looked to the starving Israelites.
She took it with less trepidation this
time. SO easy are descents.
"The gates to the Bad Place hev
mighty smoof hinges she thought,
grimly. "Ole Hoof-' n Horns keeps
'em lied slick"
Adkins never asked where his wife
got the fresh eggs he ate daily. If
there was any remote idea of their I'M
holy procurement in his mind, it did
not trouble his digestion at all. In
fact he seemed to gain health in a slow
kind of way, his returning bodily
strength marked by growing mental
caprices, in trucking to which Ellen
began to lose her own wiry vigor.
Long lines commenced creasing the
wax-like texture of her face, and dull
brownish crescents hung themselves
under her eyes like the sickly haze
that encircles a storm-tOuched moon.
Sleepless nights paid ghostly tribute to
her troubled days; but she never spoke
of these; SO long as Adkins peaceful
snore indicated the FESTIVE condition of
his mind and body, she was well con-
tent to lie by the hour watching the
darkness rush about her as if it were
full of seething atoms. Sometimes the
ceaseless motion of the gloom waxed
intolerable to her; and it was in one of
these moments that she got up and
went out in the kitchen to sit by a
window that fronted east.
It was still dark, though the smoky
dusk of the sky had faint suggestions
of gray in it, as if daylight hung far
up behind the lower vapors. After a
little the waning night took on a sort
of dim transparency, in which objects
were plainly visible. As Ellen sat
looking toward the east, with a hope
that it would soon Tighten for dawn,
her eyes caught a movement in the
yard which held them strained with
fear. She knew presently that a figure
was crossing the garden, and almost at
one with this perception came the
knowledge that it was the sturdily built
for m of Liza Ann.
Over the dark stretch of grass the
figure went, on toward the looming
blackness of the single fir, beside which
it stopped with wooden stiffness, as of
rigid joints; one hand thrust aside the
dragging branches, and in the out
stretched palm of the other Ellen saw
the round whiteness of an egg. Liza
Ann got stifiy on her feet again. and
began to recross the yard, her square
outline growing momently clearer in
the lifting gloom. She was walking
smartly past the kitchen window. when
it fell by chance that she caught
glimpse of the pale face on the pane.
She put forward, with an idea of whisk-
ing by before she should be recognized,
but before she could reach the door it
was opened, and Ellen stood on the
threshold.
''What r. you-'n's doin' in my yard.
Liza Ann Clinkenbeard?" she asked,
in Lather strained voice.
The other woman laughed shortly.
and finding she had to stop, stood in a
defiant way, her arms rolled in her
apron and crossed on her breast.
Reckon l hevn't trod down the
grass none," she said, as if at a loss to
give reason for her presence in her