es of things, walked with a firm tread to her little
room. There she knelt down, and buried her face in the bed, being
careful, meanwhile, not to rumple the valance. At last she knew the
truth; he was dead, and village gossip seemed a small thing in
comparison.

It would have been difficult, as time went on, to convince the rest of
the township that Mr. Oldfield was not in a better world.

"They'd ha' found him, if he's above ground," said the fathers, full of
faith in the detective instinct of their coursing sons. It seemed
incredible that sons should ride so fast and far, and come to nothing.
"Never was known to go out o' the county, an' they've rid over it from
one eend to t' other. Must ha' made way with himself. He wa'n't quite
right, that time he tolled the bell."

They found ominous parallels of peddlers who had been murdered in
byways, or stuck in swamps, and even cited a Tivertonian, of low degree,
who was once caught beneath the chin by a clothes-line, and remained
there, under the impression that he was being hanged, until the family
came out in the morning, and tilted him the other way.

"But then," they added, "he was a drinkin' man, an' Mr. Oldfield never
was known to touch a drop, even when he had a tight cold."

Dark as the occasion waxed, what with feuds and presentiments of ill,
there was some casual comfort in rolling this new tragedy as a sweet
morsel under the tongue, and a mournful pleasure in referring to the
night when poor Mr. Oldfield was last seen alive. So time went on to
the very eve of the celebration, and it was as well that the celebration
had never been. For kindly as Tiverton proved herself, in the main, and
closely welded in union against rival towns, now it seemed as if the
hand of every man were raised against his brother. Settlers and Indians
were still implacable; neither would ride, save each might slay the
other. The Crane boy tossed in bed, swollen to the eyes with an evil
tooth; and his exulting mates so besieged Brad Freeman for preferment,
that even that philosopher's patience gave way, and he said he'd be
hanged if he'd take the elephant out at all, if there was going to be
such a to-do about it. Even the minister sulked, though he wore a
pretense of dignity; for he had concocted a short address with very
little history in it, and that all hearsay, and the doctor had said
lightly, looking it over, "Well, old man, not much of it, is there? But
there's enough of it, such