Tombstone epitaph., 1916-12-24

T reckon ye kin jest lay thar a spell" added the woman. whilst I goes out an sees what victuals I kin skeer up"
 Left alone. the girl from Philadel- phia ran over the events of the day 1 events which seemed to smother her | under a weight of squalor and fore boding.
 At length from the road came loud shouts of drunken laughter. broken by the evident remonstrances of a companion who sought to enjoin quiet, and by these tokens the turin" woman knew that the lord of the l squalid manor was returning. and that he vas coming under convoy. She shrank from a meeting with Fietch McNash: but if she went out by the only door she knew she would have to confront him. so she lay still.
 Fletch was deposited in one of the split-bottom chairs by the doorstep. T jest went over thar ter borry a hoe" he proclaimed. 'an' met up with some fellers and thar was all manner of free flicker. They had white | flicker an bottled -in-bond flicker, an none of hit didn't cost nothin' Them | fellers jest wouldn't hardly suffer me ter come away"
 An whilst ye war a-soakin' up thet thar free flicker them pertater sets was a-dryin' up waitin' ter be sot out. !" came the stern wifely reminder. Between the strident voices came syery now and then the softly modu- ! lated tones of the stranger whose words Juanita lost. Yet. somehow. whenever she heard them she felt soothed. and after each of these ut | terances the woman outside also spoke in softer tones. Whoever the stranger was. he car ried in his voice reassuring quality. l so that without having seen him the | girl felt that in his presence there was | an element of strength and safeguard | ing.
 At last from one of the beds she | heard a scuffiing sound. and a moment l later a childish form opened a door at | the back of the cabin and slipped out into the darkness.
 | That revealed an avenue of escape. Juanita had not known that these win. dowless cabins are usually supplied l with two doors. and that the one into which the wind does not drive the weathar stands open for light on win.
 try days. Now she. too. rose noise lessly and went out of the close and musty room. It was quite dark out there and she could feel. rather than seq, the densely foliaged side of the mountain that loomed upward at the back
 In her breeding she lost account O. time. At last she heard a voice sing out fr0sn the stile:
 I'm Jim White, an I'm a-comin in-"
 A thick welcome from Fletch Me Nash followed, and then again silence settled
 Aftes a while. as she sat there on the rock. with her chin disconsolately in her hand and her elbows on her knees. Juanita became conscious oi footsteps and knew that someone was coming toward her. Then she caught the calm voice which had already i'm pressed her-the voice of the stranger who had brought home the half-help less householder.
 T reckon we're out Of earshot now I reckon we kin hev speech here; but heed your voice an talk low"
 In the face of such preface the gir shrank back ;n fresh panic She had no wish to oyerhear private converse tions.
 She huddled back against the roct and cast an anxious glance about hel for a way to escape. Behind lay the mountain wall with it's jungleliks growth, where her feet would sound an alarm of rustling branches and dis turbed deadwood. But the men were strolling near her. and to try to reach the house would require crossing thel path.
 Then the second shadow spoke, anC its voice carried beside the nasa shrillness so common to the hills tn, tenseness of suppressed excitement
 "Thar's liable ter be hell ternight.
 The girl thought that the quie stranger laughed, though of that sh, could not be certain.
 T reckon ye mean concernin' Ca Douglas?"
 "'Thet's hit: when I rid outen Peri this afternoon ther jury he'd done tool ther case. an everybody lowed they't
 find a verdict afore sundown." T reckon"-the taller of the twt
 men answered slowly. and into hii
 softly modulated voice crept some thing of fiinty finality-'T reckon I car tell ye what that verdict's goin' tt be. Cal will come clear" "Thet hain't ther pint" urged tn, messenger excitedly. "Thet hain't wh, I've rid over hyar like a bat outer hell ter cotch up with ye. l wal
 aimin' ter fotch word over ter the . dance. but es I come by hyar l seel yore hoss hitched out thar in the road. SO l lit an come in- 1 reckon
 ye knows thet cote an thet jury , Thet's yore business. but thet hain' , all"
 "Well. what's the balance of if