ss, stately
swing"]

All the rest of the day Barney was in an agony of doubt and unrest
over the unsettled question. He had been living lately in a sort of
wretched peace of remorse and misery; now it was rudely shaken. He
walked the floor; at night he could not sleep. He seemed to be in a
very torture-chamber of his own making, and the tortures were worse
than any enemies could have devised. Suppose Thomas Payne was sitting
up with Charlotte this Sunday night. Once he thought, wildly, of
going up the hill to see if there was a light in her parlor, but it
seemed to him as if the doubt was more endurable than the certainty
might be. Suppose Thomas Payne was sitting up with Charlotte; he
called to mind all her sweet ways. Suppose she was looking and
speaking to Thomas Payne in this way or that way; his imagination
threw out pictures before him upon which he could not close his eyes.
He saw Thomas Payne's face all glowing with triumph, he saw
Charlotte's with the old look that she had worn for him. Charlotte's
caresses had been few and maidenly; they all came into his mind like
stings. He knew just how she would put her tender arm around this
other man's neck, how she would lift grave, willing lips to his. He
wished that they had never been for him, for all they seemed worth to
him now was this bitter knowledge. His fancy led him on and on to his
own torment. There was a bridal mist around Charlotte. He followed
the old courses of his own dreams, after his memories were passed,
and they caused him worse agony.

The next morning Barney went to the store. It was absolutely
necessary for him to go, but he shunned everybody. He had a horrible
fear lest somebody should say, "Hallo, Barney, know Thomas Payne's
goin' to marry your old girl?" He had planned the very words, and the
leer of sly exultation that would accompany it.

But he made his purchase and went out, and nobody spoke to him. He
had not seen Thomas Payne in the back part of the store behind the
stove. Presently Thomas got up and lounged leisurely out through the
store, exchanging a word with one and another on his way. When he got
out Barney was going down the road quite a way ahead of him. Thomas
Payne kept on in his tracks. There was another man coming towards
him, and presently he stood aside to let him pass. "Good-day, Royal,"
said Thomas Payne.

"Good-day, Thomas," returned the other. "When d'ye get home?"

"Day before yesterday. How are you this winter