, 1925-03-25

born. The child, too. had died A
girl. He was unlucky, like that. 1t
was the same with the farm.
Selina's heart melted in pity. He
would look down ut the great cal
loused hands; up at her. One of the
charms of Pervus DeJong lay in the
things that his eyes said and his tongue
did not. Women always imagined he
was about to say what he looked, but
he never did. 1t mad otherwise dull
conversation with him most exciting.
His was in no way a shrewd mind.
His respect for Selma was almost rev.
erence. But he had this advantage:
he had married a woman, had lived
with her for two years. She had borne
him a child. Selma was a girl in tx.
perience. She was a woman capable
of a great deal of passion. but she did
not know that. Passion was n thing
no woman possessed, much less talked
about. 1t simply did not exist, except
in men. and then 1t was something to
be ashamed of, like a violent temper,
or a weak stomach.
By the first of March he could speak
a slow. careful and fairly grammatical
English. He could master simple
sums. By the middle of March the les
sons would cease. There was too
much work to do about the farm
night work as well as day. She found
herself trying not to think about the
time when the lessons should cease.
| She refused to look ahead to April.
One night. late in February, Selma
was conscious that she wns trying to
control something. She was trying to
keep her eyes away from something.
She realized that she was trying not
to look at his hands. She wanted,
crafty, to touch them. She wanted to
feel them about her throat. She want
ed to put her lips on his hands-brush
the backs of them, slowly, moistily,
with her mouth, l%ingeringly. She was
terribly frightened. She thought to
herself: 81 am going crazy. 1 am los
ing my mind. There is something the
matter with me. l wonder 10Y l look.
l must look queer"
At half-past eight she closed her
book suddenly. I'm tired. 1 think
it's the spring coming on" She
smiled a little wavering smile. He
rose and stretched himself, his great
arms high above his head. Selma
shivered.
1.-Two more weeks" he said, SIS the
last lesson. Well, do you think 1 have
done pretty good-wellY'
Very WELL" Selma replied evenly.
She felt very tired.
The first week in March he was III.
and did not come. A rheumatic afflic-
ton to which he was subject. 1t was
the curse of the truck farmer. Sellna's
evenings were free to devote to Roelf,
who glowed again. She sewed, too:
read; helped Mrs. Pool with the house
work in a gust of sympathy and found
strange relief therein; made over an
bic dress; studied; wrote all her let
tiers (few enough, ever one to the
d~ried-apple aunts in Vermont. She no
longer wrote to Julie Hempel. She
had heard that Julie was to be mar
ried to a Kansas man named Arnold.
Julie herself had not written. The
first week In March passed. He did
not come. Nor did he come the fol-
lowing Tuesday or Thursday.
She was bewildered. frightened. All
that week she had a curious feeling
or succession of feelings. She was
restless, l~istless, by turns. Period of
furious activity. followed by days of
Inertia. 1t was the spring. MaartJe
said. Selma hoped she wasn't going
to be Ill. She had never felt like that
before. She wanted TO cry. She was
irritable to the point of waspishness
with the children in the schoolroom.
ON Saturday-the fourteenth Of
March-he walked In Mt seven. Klaas,
Maartje and Roelf had driven Off to
a gathering at Low Prairie, leaving
Selma with the pigtails M old Jakob.
She had promised TO make taffy for
them. and was In the midst OF IL when
his knock sounded at the kitchen door.
All the blood in her body rushed to her
head; pounded there holly. He en-
tered. There slipped down over her a
complete armor Of calmness. of self
possession; Of glib how do you DO Mr..
DeJong and how are you feeling and
won't you sit down and there's no fire
in the parlor we'll have to sit here.
He took part In the taffy pulling.
Selma wondered II Geertje and Jozlna
would ever have don s~quealing. 1t
was half-past eight before she bundled
them of to bed with a plate of clipped
tany lozenges between them. She
heard them scuffling and scrimmaging
about In the rare freedom of their
parents absence.
Pervus DeJong and Selma sat Mt
the kitchen table, their books spread
out before them on the oilcloth. The
sweet, heavy scent of fruit filled
the room. Selma brought the parlor
lamp into the kitchen. the better to
see. II was a nlckel-bellied lamp.
with n yellow glass shade hat cast u
mellow golden glow.
"You didn't go to the meeting"
primly. "Mr. and Mrs. Pool went"
"No. I didn't GO"
"Why notf"
She snp him aynIlnw aT mot