Show p l td c Hu Viers i r rJ 4 J f rry ev s A l G l CHAPTER Continued XI-Continued 14 Daddy vines es around like be had hada n a trouble bound on Ills his shoulders lie works down around the mill so much dont know 1 now how hes he's ever going to fo et herbs for tor his medicine and the corn In and the hay made and the sorghum Jasper works In Inthe inthe the fields with a sorry look on his face and I 1 reckon he wants to marry And Is so fd d about everything c I 1 can hear him flopping JIg In his bed at night and ramming his knees with a bang Into the wall And theres there's Jesse work worl- working Ins ing on on through his bl big book boole and looking nt at hIs steer and I 1 know he be beIs heis Is rl right ht nervous about going off over o to town with so much to do about the place before wl winter ter nn and andall 1 all these strange men coming here from down river antI and the bard feel rings about Grover Sims getting killed And theres there's Cynthia What about you You think about him nn and 1 his maps and papers hes he's work work- workIng working Ing on and about how youre you're to get over o to th Institute for a wIn wIn- wInter winter ter and about silly things In the trees that you'd oud just better leave to 01 old 1 Mr Ir Stingy an and andt 1 t c his black man man nut But its it's not nice to call even en hIm bad names These things gave ga her enough to think on on The he work around the house offered more than she coul could 1 do Slowly September was creepIng Into Wolfpen Soon C Cynthia be going away and the thought was pleasant She had hatI finished the dl di verse colored cloth for the megs mens shirts and the blue twill cloth for forber her ber own dress and now nov she was sewing them while JulIa did the cutting Next week come In n a hurry Julia Julin said Its been such an odd summer Cynthia answered No two summers are the same Cynthia nut But this one Is such nn an awful lot different the others seem alike There have been others Cynthia The summer Jesse was wag sick Rick and the he year Lucy Jot got married and the spring Jenny moved over on horse horse- horsepen pen but you were little and didn't notice It like I did to see the two girls gone And now with me about to go nut But Its It's just over to town to to the Institute sad not like marrying and going oft orr for good and all Sometimes I dont don't think Id I'd het hetter ter go and leave you OU here with Its not much Cynthia now that Mullens stays at the camp with the new men I dont don't mind get like you do and Ill I'll get Amy to come o over er on washdays Ill I'll man man- manage age oge all rl right ht like I always have ha I want you ou to so go and you must And what we dont don't get done can just walt And therell there'll be a right smart ot of money when Mr Ir pays forthe lan land 1 Weve We've been put tine more than enough stuff away each ench winter You just set your mind nt at rest and be thankful for forvour chances Cynt Cynthia sewed quIetly In thought for tor a time The looked at her mother noting the unselfish look of her face In repose and conscious ot of the kindly strength ot of every faint line about her mouth and fore fore- forehead bea head 1 lIer Iler sense ot of withholding her her- self from from Intimate communication with 1 Julia was suddenly and Impulsively Im- Im Impulsively gone Mother loth she saId Yes 1 es Cynthia hla Do you think I ought to marry somebody Why Ses ea Cynthia some Bome time you fOU should marry old were you when jou OU married Daddy Just about your age A little younger Is that too soon to marry or I not It It would be too soon for you hut but It was right for me me I was big for formy formy my age i knew how bow to manage a ahouse house and your father asked askell me to marry him A gIrl should marry when the rIght time for her comes Do you ou think t ought to marry Doug Mother Julia controlled her ber surprise be- be before tore fore she spoke poke again Doug Is n a mighty good boy But do you think a 0 girl ought to marry just a boy who Is good god Doug asked roc me to A And nd what wha t dl did 1 you say tay to him r I 1 said sall It wasn't time to thInk about thinks like that and he be asked me Ir If Asked you what wanted to know well 11 he be If u If be She shifted It if I 1 the varicolored shirting on her lap lai lie ulle and then down looking up I said ald Tins lias tint that have e you OU gone Ione It was that surveyor e or to Inking uttered and II seemed very ery strange and out of secret taken it II to ser Ei her ber and between put ut in the room her mother just a little phrase liking that surveyor It was such an odd within to Le be folded up In three words and stood upon n a sewing stand or a aI bench by the loom I Julio Julia let It stand there until It was no DO longer ill III ot at ease and then I saId without probing Cynthia's se secrets crets What did you tell Doug I told 1 hIm a 0 lie Its sudden stab was so un p ct ed cd that Julia Julla exclaimed Wb Why C n l I It seemed like e a little tiny lie when I 1 told It but that was yester yester- yesterday day and today It t looks as bl big as other Mother What Cynthia Do you think Reuben was about the nIcest boy you you ever eer saw Well I still remember your fa fa- fa father ther CynthIa And how he saw you first on the chip pile You always look the same when anybody mentions that hat Im I'm glad you Jou saw him first that way Mother Iother Y Yes s dear Do you ou know how I first saw No 10 you never said I had burned my hand bantI on the stove and I was stirring the batter baiter with my left hand 1 slopping It out against my old dress and I was so hot and my hair was stringing down downIn downin In m my eyes and I 1 was just about to cry Then I heard the sate gate and thought It was Jesse and I went to tolie the lie porch saying something to him and there he was tall and neat as asa n a poplar and I 1 couldn't even run like you Jou dl did 1 when you first met Dad ly dy but I 1 stood there and mumbled And then I went back In the kitch- kitch kitchen en and cried Mother loUler Yes 1 es Dont things ever er come out the way a body dreams them Hardly ever dear But some some- sometImes sometimes tImes they are better I always s thought Id I'd be looking neat and ladylike and standing by bya bya a pear tree and I wasn't But may be It was more like you and Daddy They were both silent now v each running forward with her own thoughts and aud unaware for tor the In- In Instant instant stant that a unique moment had bod passed between them and that they had said things s more Intimately than ever before After a time Julia Julla came Lack back carefully lag the frn fragile lle expansiveness which had bad confessed 1 these things s to her Then You liked him that much Cynthia y Yes s Mother nave have you talked anythIng about It Yes Ys well no not right plain out It Is something you yon just know about the way you know you are breathing or a laurel sprig bursts out pink In the sun up the PInnacle or Is that just crazy talk Jasper always said about me saying Saul was prowling around the place Its real nice to be able to know anything that way A body cant can't I always know things for a certainty certainty lies lOnes going to be Ii a county sur- sur surveyor some day What Is n a county surveyor I 1 dont don't just know but your Dad dy would I 1 reckon It doesn't matter much Dont Don't you think Le be Is different from Doug Yes But Dut hes he's lived different and worked Doug Is nice folks Mother Iother Do you thInk I ought to marry Well Cynthia youre you're going to school next week Yes and I wouldn't miss that for anything hardly But Dut there Is IsI next year ye-tr And Julia continued he be hasn't so much RS as asked you lie OllIe sal said 1 he be woul would 1 come back antI and Mother Iother it Il just screamed out that very first day him Yes but he ma hove have In In- In Interests down the river where he lives Ih-es and you mustn't unless he has hus told you rou Cant you tell a body things to In any way but words Mother Why yes I 1 reckon so Cynthia only a body could be mistaken you ou know Plenty folk tolk mistake plain words And It comes by nature for Reuben Warren to be nice DIce to peo peo- people pIe That afternoon we sat Mt on the gray stone by the thc sycamore and he laid 1 his hand over o mine In the white white- Hatred haired moss and then he took It away again but It was there and that's how you know when Its It's true You are arc a strange girl Irl my dear child and 1 reckon you yon ought to know If Its It's that WilY way with you But ButI J I wouldn't have any blight spot your our heart henrt for this I guess bUess 1 oughtn't u ot of lied to Doug thou though h I reckon that was jn t the thing you ought to sty say to him Julia Julin said I wouldn't want to make Doug feel fel bad lie works awful hard at attle atthe the tl place an and he Is banking so 0 much on his crop of sen I 1 did promise him Id I'd go o look nt at his seng ell ed before I go 10 You ought to do that and J 1 must send BentI Sarah some orne of the lie pur- pur purple purple dahlias and some wheat loaf And 01 on this they b begun an to read read- readjust just their Inner lives to the new IntimacIes born ot of C Cynthia's confes confes- confession slon sion CHAPTER XII IT WAS in the afternoon at the end of August that Cynthia went down to say good good-by to Sarah son and Doug It was the first time in many weeks that she had sat the and ridden out of pen It was a joyous thing feel horse muscle low under her thighs and connect with her spirit to hear the soft plopping of quick hoofs against the sand It was tonic to efface the thought of what she would see when she peered Into the hollow at Dry Creel filled with new newmen men whom Sparrel called riffraff and was troubled about She waved to Jesse in the men men- dow where he had been furiously tossing hay and was sitting now under a haycock with the book opened on his knees I reckon Jesse sure means business whether he pitches hay or reads the law Im I'm right glad hell he'll be over there too even if he dont don't come for a week or two Sparrel was outside his shop leaning against the shade by the thedoor door looking to nowhere out of Wolfpen puzzlement on his face It slipped off as Cynthia came into the yard mill and he spoke kindly to her and patted the rump of the You two make a looking fine out out- outfit fit if I do say it myself Cynthia seeing n remnant of her Daddy Sparrel in his eyes and voice thought lie ought to have more r w i irn Q I ti r r rn rIsi n Isi rn it 1 il r f 4 1 f Be Coming Back to Visit Before Long I Reckon pleasure out ot of all thIs busIness than hes he's getting but he lets other mens men's troubles be his own because they are on his land when he ought to let and his black blackman blackman man run on to suit themselves and be happy up Wolfpen 1 with hIs own place She smiled to him antI and waved back as she took the ford over Can Gan Cannon non And she smiled with her own sense ot of pleasure as she heard beard Ab Ab- Ab rals ral's voice olce pitched high saying No o It wont won't go that way Here litre Watch me She dreaded the thou thought ht ot of look look- Ing hg up the hollow bollow where the trees ha had 1 been cut As she came Into the road beyond the shadow ot of the Pin Pin- Pinnacle nocle nacle where Dry Creek would burst Into view she played a game jame with herself herselt and the Well see It we can go by without either ot of us looking over there to the slaughter pens she said aloud It was n a difficult game to play She fixed her eyes on the ears for tor many paces Then she looked off orr to the bright ht tinted sun green on the timbered ridges to the north and down Into the cool dark pockets In the hollows where the shadows lay IlY The her neck straight ht down do the road be- be between tween the Patches or of rank horse horse- weeds as high as her back Its Us not fair for me because you yon couldn't see o over er along here even If you wanted to lint But I just naturally face that over o there be- be because because cause I sit sideways and l 1 have to stretch my neck to look 1001 the other way its it's funny how you try not to look at something you dont don't want to see and nil all the time feel It pulling at your eyes so hard you YO cant can't hard bard hardly ly keep keel them off orr of It IL She looked at n a great whIte roll roil of cloud try log Ing to decide whether to have It t be bea bea a dragon straining for tor its Ils prey or a faIr host or of angels draping a veil or of luminous wIngs over o the unmolested hills Then she decided they were just ordinary clouds with nothing to todo do 10 but go riding In the sky In the after toua So she resisted Dry Creek while while- they passed the rank weeds horse and the cane brake shooting pale yellow ellov poles high above tier her and came to the lie open mead meadow w There TheresIe sIe suddenly felt the lure of ugh ugh- ness rushing across acrus the open splice space and reaching for her e eyes es ns as 1 a barrier hind hatI fallen She with nn an effort Cort She heard the voice of men framing the curious sharp monos monosyllabic cries to the mules anu oxen She felt the smell of wood woodsmoke smoke In her nose and on her tongue Still she dbl not look am the marc inure was absorbed In the and mated manipulation of her own legs les J I reckon mu maybe be we can du dOl what we male up our minds to 10 And nd If you wont won't look while I duIt du duIt It Ill I'll shut my e eyes es till we ore are clean across the meadow and get gel our hacks to It it She closed 1 her eyes and gave ave her body bolly In lion to the rhythm rhythm ot of each precise step of oC the mare marc Then she felt the muscles on the mares mare's shoulders contract with n snap and tighten back to her rump as she swerved and broke the th rhythm of her ber gait Cynthia Imol opened her e eyes s 's to see n a ayoung young oun rabbIt leap Into n a clump of berry vines As she followed Its leap eap she heard met med shouting followed b by the swish and the sharp explosive crack of a tree beginning Its fall The mare looked and C Cynthia looked Into the hollow at the heavy fall of a great reat tulip tree lunging against all the efforts of the lumberman hill down through h space In a thunderous sigh Ing swish rebounding from the ground on resilient limbs and nud springing like a beheaded chicken n a dozen yards from from the stump on onlie the lie steep hillside I reckon a body borly just has to look sometimes when things get et hurt and die Does It make your stomach ach twist too We both did ld It at atthe the same time and ma maybe be you JOll are not so different from the other pen peo- people pie just because your square mouth wont won't make any words And C Cynthia looked Into the smoking brush plies piles and aM ugly uly stumps where possums used to crouch In the padded silence The Mason place was unaltered the weathered paling fence where she left the mare the tle chickens about the yard ard the slight musty smell of the house compounded of wood smoke rooms cool cook coolIn cooking In ing and sickness It dawned sod sud denly on Cynthia that It was this redolence of other people which had hatI always made her vaguely unhappy nt at the Masons The root roof over the porch was still Incomplete There was a hen In Sarah's spilt hickory rocker CynthIa tida thIa went on Into the kitchen Sarab had tier her large lorge bare feet propped on n a cushion while she shelled beans from the sack by her side She wept to see Cynthia dab dab- bing at her eyes and smiling and talkIng nil all the time about how long It had been since she had hatI come corne to see her of the progress of her af ot of the gifts Julia had bad sent an and 1 ot of Doug Dou Iles gone over Ofer to his seng patch again lie goes over there purt Dear ery c evening with his gun CynthIa toM told her about the news from Wolfpen and her ber plans for the Institute Sarah made malle |