sked what they
were saying.

"It's Mis' Dundy," they said. "She's been sent to th' insane asylum at
Lincoln. She's gone stark mad. All she said on the way out was,
'Th' butter won't come! Th' butter won't come!'" Then they laughed a
little--a strange laugh; and Annie thought of a drinking-song she had
once heard, "Here's to the next who dies."

Ten days after this Jim got a letter from her. "I am never coming back,
Jim," it said. "It is hopeless. I don't think I would mind standing
still to be shot down if there was any good in it. But I'm not going
back there to work harder than any slave for those money-loaners and the
railroads. I guess they can all get along without me. And I am sure I
can get along without them. I do not think this will make you feel very
bad. You haven't seemed to notice me very much lately when I've been
around, and I do not think you will notice very much when I am gone. I
know what this means. I know I am breaking my word when I leave you. But
remember, it is not you I leave, but the soil, Jim! I will not be its
slave any longer. If you care to come for me here, and live another
life--but no, there would be no use. Our love, like our toil, has been
eaten up by those rapacious acres. Let us say goodby."

Jim sat all night with this letter in his hand. Sometimes he dozed
heavily in his chair. But he did not go to bed; and the next morning he
hitched up his horses and rode to town. He went to the bank which held
his notes.

"I'll confess judgment as soon as you like," he said. "It's all up with
me."

It was done as quickly as the law would allow. And the things in the
house were sold by auction. All the farmers were there with their wives.
It made quite an outing for them. Jim moved around impassively, and
chatted, now and then, with some of the men about what the horses ought
to bring.

The auctioneer was a clever fellow. Between the putting up of the
articles, he sang comic songs, and the funnier the song, the livelier
the bidding that followed. The horses brought a decent price, and the
machinery a disappointing one; and then, after a delicious snatch about
Nell who rode the sway-backed mare at the county fair, he got down to
the furniture,--the furniture which Jim had bought when he was expecting
Annie.

Jim was walking around with his hands in his pockets, looking
unconcerned, and, as the furniture began to go off, he came and sat down
in the midst of it. Every one noticed his indif