h a gaze that was at once
earnest, penetrating, and commiserating, and a clover blossom in her
mouth.

"Susan," said Mrs. Lathrop, in a voice mournful enough to have renovated
Job; "Susan, I--"

Miss Clegg shut her eyes firmly and opened them sharply.

"I 'm glad you have," she said, in a voice whose tone was divided
between relief and reproach,--"I certainly am glad you have. I try to be
close-mouthed 'n' never trouble any one with my affairs, Mrs. Lathrop,
but I will say as I have often wondered at how you could sit 'n' rock in
the face of what I 've been grinnin' 'n' bearin' these last few weeks.
Not that rockin' is any crime, 'n' I always feel it must be fine
exercise for the chair, but it 's hard for one who has the wolf at their
door, 'n' not only at their door, but nigh to bu'stin' it in, to see
their dearest friend rockin' away, like wolf or no wolf she 'd go on
forever."

Mrs. Lathrop looked aggrieved.

"Why, Susan--" she protested.

"That ain't no excuse," the friend said, not harshly but with a cold
distinctness; "you may talk yourself blind if you feel so inclined, 'n'
I don't say but what you really did n't mean nothin', but the fact
remains, 'n' always will remain, as you 've took a deal of comfort
rockin' while I 've been kitin' broadcast tryin' to see if I could keep
soul 'n' body together or whether I 'd have to let one or the other of
'em go."

Mrs. Lathrop opened her mouth and eyes widely.

"I never--" she gasped.

Susan hooked herself on to the fence-rail with both her elbows
preparatory to a lengthy debate; her eyes were bright, her expression
one of unreserved exposition. Mrs. Lathrop continued to keep her eyes
and mouth open, but reasons which will soon be known to the reader
prevented her making another remark for a long time.

"Mrs. Lathrop, I may as well begin by goin' 'way back to the beginnin'
of everythin' 'n' takin' you right in the hide and hair of my whole
troubles. It ain't possible for you to realize what your rockin 's meant
to me unless you understand to the full what I 've been goin' through
'n' crawlin' under these last weeks. I want to spare your feelin's all I
can, for it ain't in me to be unkind to so much as a gooseberry, but I
can't well see how you can keep from bein' some punched by remorse when
you hear how I 've been cleanin' house with a heavy heart 'n' no new
mop. That's what I 've been doin', Mrs. Lathrop, 'n' so help me Heaven,
it's death or a new mop next