ine could beat Smoky or Skeeter, if I was scared
that bad at the beginning of a race."

Bud, in sheer gratitude for her anxiety over him, patted Honey's hand
and told her she must have broken the record, all right, and that she
had done exactly the right thing. And Honey went to bed happy that
night.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: EVEN MUSHROOMS HELP

Bud wanted to have a little confidential talk with Marian. He hoped that
she would be willing to tell him a great deal more than could be written
on one side of a cigarette paper, and he was curious to hear what it
was. On the other hand, he wanted somehow to let her know that he was
anxious to help her in any way possible. She needed help, of that he was
sure.

Lew returned on Tuesday, with a vile temper and rheumatism in his left
shoulder so that he could not work, but stayed around the house and too
evidently made his wife miserable by his presence. On Wednesday morning
Marian had her hair dressed so low over her ears that she resembled a
lady of old Colonial days--but she did not quite conceal from Bud's
keen eyes the ugly bruise on her temple. She was pale and her lips were
compressed as if she were afraid to relax lest she burst out in tears or
in a violent denunciation of some kind. Bud dared not look at her, nor
at Lew, who sat glowering at Bud's right hand. He tried to eat, tried to
swallow his coffee, and finally gave up the attempt and left the table.

In getting up he touched Lew's shoulder with his elbow, and Lew let out
a bellow of pain and an oath, and leaned away from him, his right hand
up to ward off another hurt.

"Pardon me. I forgot your rheumatism," Bud apologized perfunctorily, his
face going red at the epithet. Marian, coming toward him with a plate
of biscuits, looked him full in the eyes and turned her glance to her
husband's back while her lips curled in the bitterest, the most scornful
smile Bud had ever seen on a woman's face. She did not speak--speech
was impossible before that tableful of men--but Bud went out feeling as
though she had told him that her contempt for Lew was beyond words, and
that his rheumatism brought no pity whatever.

Wednesday passed, Thursday came, and still there was no chance to speak
a word in private. The kitchen drudge was hedged about by open ears and
curious eyes, and save at meal-time she was invisible to the men unless
they glimpsed her for a moment in the kitchen door.

Thursday brought a thunder storm with pl