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

times. did once"
A groan, muflled but clearly audible,
descended to Nathan.
II can't help itl' he muttered. 81
guess Til go lie down on the sitting.
room sofa minute. I'll have to; l
can't stand up"
He took off his boots and padded
softly alongthe rug pathway. 1t was
so dim In there that not till he got
close to the lounge did he notice the
newspapers covering it. He lifted one
Of them off 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 paper9 I don't. see it any
where. "
Goodness, Nathan Foote, shut
that doorl You'll let in q mess of
fiesl' :
"Wher's the hast paper, Mercy?"
Nathan's diminished voice rose, patient
and tired, to Mercy's ears through the
closed door.
cts all piled up nice, Nathan. You
don't want IL now. You take the
almanac over the kitchen table and
read the iokesl' she called back. He
got the almanac and put OH his boots.
Then he dragged them YEARLY, step
by step, out to the stable. His gris-
zled, seamy face was drawn with eS-
hauston aud pain.
Mercy Foote came downstairs at
precisely FIVE O'Clock to get supper.
just as she stepped over the kitchen
threshold the last stroke Of the clock
was changing. That was her rule.
Mercy was as methodical as she was
neat.
Goodness" she exclaimed, there's
fy!-there's two fies" 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 didn't think they'd find their
way clear in from the stable"
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 wisp OF
hay on the speckled rug! Now 1
s'pose, I've got to go to sweeping!'
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. cts
too hot to light the fire. and 'twould
muss up dreadfully-the shavings and
oil. Well have just cold lunch.
Nathan oughtn't to eat hearty victuals
after haying and getting all heated
up.
"Nathanl Nathan" she called from
the porch door, which she warily
opened only crack. He was not out
there. She could not find him any
where.
She went all over the house, and
peered from all the tightly screened
windows. She put on her sunbonnet
and blew the dinner-horn. She always
put on her sunbolnet 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 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 lopg, 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 vas Nathan.
''I'm beginning 10 get scared, poor
Mercy confessed to herself. Why was
II 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 so mistakenly Of their sitting out
there together-she aud Nathan--to
save "mussing" the sitting.roon? 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 it be possible that
weary old men with fussy, iscolding
wives ever--ever--Oh no! But where
could Nathan be? Eight o'clock
two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight
slow, solemn, significant clangs!
Mercy went out into the wood.shed-