hen be my
wife.' Then I thought of how tedious it would be to wait so long and I
corrected my statement by telling her that we needn't wait at all. How
she did flounce in surprise. She said she had no idea that I cared
anything for her. But I stopped her right there. 'That ain't the
question,' I said, 'do you care anything for me? That's the question.'
At this she hung her head and said that she didn't know, exactly, but
that she would think about it. 'I don't want any thinking,' said I.
'What I want is for you to tell me right now.' Then she said something
about that fool cousin. And I told her that I would shoot him on sight
and look for him at that. I started to go away and she caught hold of
me and said that if I promised not to shoot Jerry she would tell me
the next day. 'You tell me now,' said I, 'or that fellow will be a
corpse before morning.' Then she agreed that she thought she did love
me a little. I told her that a little wouldn't satisfy me--I didn't
want a breeze, I wanted a storm. She said I was hard to satisfy. She
didn't think she could please me; she knew that she didn't amount to
much in the eyes of town people. She had hoped so much to please me,
and now she was grieved at her disappointment. She acknowledged that
she was afraid to love me, and I told her that she needn't have any
fear and that she might let herself out at once. And after a good deal
of talk she did. I put her arms around my neck and made her squeeze
me, and I called her a divine boa constrictor. She didn't exactly know
what I meant, but it tickled her all the same. Then I went over into
the field to consult the old man about the time I'd have to wait, and
when I mentioned day after tomorrow he snorted. 'Young fellow,' said
he, 'I like your pushing ways, but I don't want to be crowded off the
face of the earth. You wait awhile. I don't want folks to think that I
am anxious to git rid of the best gal that ever lived.' He got next to
me when he put it that way, and I agreed to wait a week or so. Yes,
sir, it's all right, with the exception that I've got to wait. But I
won't wait alone; I'll go out there every once in awhile and make her
wait with me."

Lyman caught hold of him and they stood near the window, laughing, but
the laughter had more the sound of soft music than of two men in a
merry mood. They sat down in the twilight, and their cigars glowed
like the eyes of a beast, far apart.

Warren's restlessness was worn away in part