erend Burgess, and the
postmaster--and even of Jack Halliday, who was the loafing, good-natured,
no-account, irreverent fisherman, hunter, boys' friend, stray-dogs'
friend, typical "Sam Lawson" of the town. The little mean, smirking,
oily Pinkerton showed the sack to all comers, and rubbed his sleek palms
together pleasantly, and enlarged upon the town's fine old reputation for
honesty and upon this wonderful endorsement of it, and hoped and believed
that the example would now spread far and wide over the American world,
and be epoch-making in the matter of moral regeneration. And so on, and
so on.

By the end of a week things had quieted down again; the wild intoxication
of pride and joy had sobered to a soft, sweet, silent delight--a sort of
deep, nameless, unutterable content. All faces bore a look of peaceful,
holy happiness.

Then a change came. It was a gradual change; so gradual that its
beginnings were hardly noticed; maybe were not noticed at all, except by
Jack Halliday, who always noticed everything; and always made fun of it,
too, no matter what it was. He began to throw out chaffing remarks about
people not looking quite so happy as they did a day or two ago; and next
he claimed that the new aspect was deepening to positive sadness; next,
that it was taking on a sick look; and finally he said that everybody was
become so moody, thoughtful, and absent-minded that he could rob the
meanest man in town of a cent out of the bottom of his breeches pocket
and not disturb his reverie.

At this stage--or at about this stage--a saying like this was dropped at
bedtime--with a sigh, usually--by the head of each of the nineteen
principal households:

"Ah, what _could_ have been the remark that Goodson made?"

And straightway--with a shudder--came this, from the man's wife:

"Oh, _don't_! What horrible thing are you mulling in your mind? Put it
away from you, for God's sake!"

But that question was wrung from those men again the next night--and got
the same retort. But weaker.

And the third night the men uttered the question yet again--with anguish,
and absently. This time--and the following night--the wives fidgeted
feebly, and tried to say something. But didn't.

And the night after that they found their tongues and
responded--longingly:

"Oh, if we _could_ only guess!"

Halliday's comments grew daily more and more sparklingly disagreeable and
disparaging. He went diligently about, laughing at