Gulf Coast breeze. [volume] (Crawfordville, Fla.) 1897-19??, 1898-07-29

"Yes. I don't know as / did oil the
times. did once"
A groan, muflled but clearly audible,
descended to Nathan.
II can't help itr' he muttered. II
guess I'll 60 lie down on the sitting.
room sofa a minute. I'll have to; l
can't stand mp"
He took of his boots and padded
softly along4he rug pathway. It was
so dim Ia there that not till he got
close to the lounge did he notice the
newspapers covering it. He lifted one
Of them of with little determined
twitch Of his lips, but replaced il
hastily, and padded softly back to the
kitchen. He went to the door.
Mercy" he called up, where's
the last paper' 1 don't. see it any
where"
Goodness, Nathan Foote, shut
that doorl You'll let in o mess of
fiesw
"Wher's the hast paper, Mercy?"
Nathans diminishedv voice rose, patient
and tired, to Mcrcy's ears through the
closed door.
'Tt's all piled up nice, Nathan. Yon
don't want it now. You take the
almanac over the kitchen table and
read the iokesl" she called back. He
got the almanac aud put OH his boots.
Then he dragged them YEARLY, step
by step, out to the stable. His gris-
zled, seamy face was drawn with ex-
hauston aud pain.
Mercy Foote came downstairs at
precisely Ave O'Clock to get supper
Just as she stepped over the kitchen
threshold the last stroke Of the clock
was changing. That was her rple.
Mercy was as methodical as she was
neat.
Goodness" she exclaimed, there's
Ayl-there's two fiesl' She caught
up one of the deity folded news
papers that she kept hidden in handy
hooks and proceeded to wage war.
"Nathan's so careless!" she fretted.
"But I didn't think they'd find their
way clear in from the stablel"
She reered into the sitting-room,
and noticed that one of the papers on
the lounge was awry. "Nathan's
been in there-yes, there's q wisp Of
hay on the speckled rugl Now I
s'pose, I've got to go to sweepingl"
II was quarter Of six before supper
was ready on the kitchen table. Mercy
had arranged the dishes precisely, but
there seemed very few Of them. ITS
too hot to light the fire. and 'twould
muss up dreadfully-the shavings and
oil. Wen have just cold lunch.
Nathan oughtn't to eat hearty victuals
after haying and getting oil heated
up.
"Nathan! Nathanv she called from
the porch door, which she warily
opened only crack. He was not ont
there. She could not find him any
where.
She went all over the house, and
petred from oil the tightly screened
windows. She put on her sunbonnet
and blew the dinaer-horn. She always
put on her sunbonnet when she blew
the horn, nobody knew why. Mercy
didn't know herself.
There was a little circular hole in
the upper part OF the kitchen door,
protected by q swinging disk Of wood.
II was to blow the dinner.horn
through. Nathan made it for her so
that she need not open tho door and
run the risk of the entrance OF flies.
She slid away the wooden cover and
quickly inserted the end of the horn
into the hole, and blew long, resonant
blasts. They echoed back to her
lonesomely.
The clock struck six--seven. Still
Nathan did not come. Mercy went
out to the hay field aud all over the
little farm. Her heart grew heavy
with new, unacknowledged dread.
Where was Nathan.
''I'm beginning - get scared, poor
Mercy confessed to herself Why was
il that she kept remembering the
sharp words she had said to Nathan?
Why did she remember how old and
tired out he had looked at dinner.
Why, when she went into the dreary
little porch-room, should the wooden
chairs stiff and uncomfortable, remind
her 40 mistakenly Of their sitting out
there together-she aud Nathan--to
save "mussing" the sitting-room? She
could see just bow uneasily Nathan
sat on the edge OF his chair, without
any resting place for his shirt-sleeved
old arms-Goodness where was
Nathan?
Terrible things she had read Of
and heard OF kept recurring
to her mind with dark insin-
nation. Could IL be possible that
weary old men with fussy, scolding
wives ever--ever---Oh no! But where
could Nathan be? Eight o'clock --one,
two. three, four, five, six, seven, eight
slow. solemn, significant clangsl