y--scat my----! an' he payin' fer
ev'rythin'--I thought he was jes' made o' money! An' I remember how we
talked about all the doin's; the ridin', an' jumpin', an' summersettin',
an' all--fer he'd got all the shyniss out of me for the time--an' once I
looked up at him, an' he looked down at me with that curious look in his
eyes an' put his hand on my shoulder. Wa'al, now, I tell ye, I had a
queer, crinkly feelin' go up an' down my back, an' I like to up an'
cried."

"Dave," said the widow, "I kin see you two as if you was settin' there
front of me. He was alwus like that. Oh, my! Oh, my! David," she added
solemnly, while two tears rolled slowly down her wrinkled face, "we
lived together, husban' an' wife, fer seven year, an' he never give me a
cross word."

"I don't doubt it a mossel," said David simply, leaning over and poking
the fire, which operation kept his face out of her sight and was
prolonged rather unduly. Finally he straightened up and, blowing his
nose as it were a trumpet, said:

"Wa'al, the cirkis fin'ly come to an end, an' the crowd hustled to git
out 's if they was afraid the tent 'd come down on 'em. I got kind o'
mixed up in 'em, an' somebody tried to git my tin pail, or I thought he
did, an' the upshot was that I lost sight o' Billy P., an' couldn't make
out to ketch a glimpse of him nowhere. An' _then_ I kind o' come down to
earth, kerchug! It was five o'clock, an' I had better 'n four mile to
walk--mostly up hill--an' if I knowed anything 'bout the old man, an' I
thought I _did_, I had the all-firedist lickin' ahead of me 't I'd ever
got, an' that was sayin' a good deal. But, boy 's I was, I had grit
enough to allow 't was wuth it, an' off I put."

"Did he lick ye much?" inquired Mrs. Cullom anxiously.

"Wa'al," replied David, "he done his best. He was layin' fer me when I
struck the front gate--I knowed it wa'n't no use to try the back door,
an' he took me by the ear--most pulled it off--an' marched me off to the
barn shed without a word. I never see him so mad. Seemed like he
couldn't speak fer a while, but fin'ly he says, 'Where you ben all day?'

"'Down t' the village,' I says.

"'What you ben up to down there?' he says.

"'Went to the cirkis,' I says, thinkin' I might 's well make a clean
breast on't.

"'Where 'd you git the money?' he says.

"'Mr. Cullom took me,' I says.

"'You lie,' he says. 'You stole the money somewheres, an' I'll trounce
it out of ye, if I kill ye,' he says.