ll hampered though they were in the "spun truck "--"I'd
ruther be a sheep 'thout a soul, an' live in peace."

"A sca'ce ch'ice," commented her mother. "Sheep's got ter be butchered.
I'd ruther be the butcher, myself--healthier."

Purdee was gone. He had glanced absently at his wife as if he hardly
heard. He waited till she paused; then, without answer, he stepped
hastily out of the door and walked away.

*****

The cronies at the blacksmith's shop latterly gathered within the great
flaring door, for the frost lay on the dead leaves without, the stars
scintillated with chill suggestions, and the wind was abroad on nights
like these. On shrill pipes it played; so weird, so wild, so prophetic
were its tones that it found only a shrinking in the heart of him whose
ear it constrained to listen. The sound of the torrent far below was
accelerated to an agitated, tumultuous plaint, all unknown when its
pulses were bated by summer languors. The moon was in the turmoil of the
clouds, which, routed in some wild combat with the winds, were streaming
westward.

And although the rigors of the winter were in abeyance, and the late
purple aster called the Christmas-flower bloomed in the sheltered grass
at the door, the forge fire, flaring or dully glowing, overhung with its
dusky hood, was a friendly thing to see, and in its vague illumination
the rude interior of the shanty--the walls, the implements of the trade,
the bearded faces grouped about, the shadowy figures seated on whatever
might serve, a block of wood, the shoeing-stool, a plough, or perched on
the anvil--became visible to Roger Purdee from far down the road as
he approached. Even the head of a horse could be seen thrust in at the
window, while the brute, hitched outside, beguiled the dreary waiting by
watching with a luminous, intelligent eye the gossips within, as if he
understood the drawling colloquy. They were suffering some dearth of
timely topics, supplying the deficiency with reminiscences more or less
stale, and had expected no such sensation as they experienced when a
long shadow fell athwart the doorway,--the broad aperture glimmering a
silvery gray contrasted with the brown duskiness of the interior and
the purple darkness of the distance; the forge fire showed Purdee's tall
figure leaning on the doorframe, and lighted up his serious face beneath
his great broad-brimmed hat, his intent, earnest eyes, his tangled black
beard and locks. He gave no greeting,