soft. "Run mighty well in this 'lection, too. He's a
mighty smart, good boy."

He nodded his big head approvingly. "I don't wonder he cut the t'other
feller out. Mighty fine feller Wat is."

"Well, now," said the register, suddenly putting his pen behind his
ear, and leaving the party of the first part and the party of the
second part to their own devices, "I'm blest if I don't think Justus
is worth a hundred of Wat, lock, stock, an' barrel."

Once more the grizzled eyebrows went up toward the iron-gray thatch of
the coroner's forehead. "_Justus!_ I'm free ter say I dunno nobody
equal ter Justus. I hev known Justus sence he war knee-high ter a
pa'tridge--the way he did keer fur them chil'n, an' brung 'em up ter
be equal ter anybody in the lan'! An' smart--_smart_ ain't the word
fur him! Ef he hed education he could do anything; but he hed ter
stan' back an' let the t'other chil'n git it. Whar would Wat be ef 't
warn't fur Justus?"

"That's what makes me say 't was a mighty mean trick he played on
Justus," the register broke in.

"Who? How?" demanded the coroner.

"Why, Justus was the t'other feller. Wat an' the girl never let _him_
have an inklin' of it. They just fooled him along, believin' she was
goin' ter marry _him_. An' las' night when it was reported all over
town that Wat was elected, an' Justus took time from electioneerin'
fur his brother to breathe, they tolled him out to look at the comet,
an' slipped off an' married."

The man of sentiment, with the election in his hand, sat looking
loweringly about him. His satisfaction was wilted; his fat hung
flabbily on his big bones; his small eyes were hard and cold.

"Waal," he said, rising at last, "these extry an' occasional
opportunities like comets an' castin' votes oughter be took full
advantage of--full advantage of; no doubt about that."

And thus it was that the casting vote tipped the scale in favor of the
incumbent.

"He's ez hard-headed, an' _ty_rannical, an' _per_verse, an'
cantankerous a critter ez ever lived, with no feelin's, nor softness,
nor perliteness in him--but he's a square man. He'll do the _fair_
thing--every time," the coroner said in explanation.

And so he braced himself for another term of official wrangling.

* * * * *

Poor Theodosia! She never forgot that return home, through all the
dust of the drought and the glare of the midsummer sun. Even to
herself her nature seemed too small for the