, I don't know what to think!" and with a low groan Jane threw
herself back on the bed. "What do I care? They are full of health and
can take care of themselves, while here I lie with hardly strength
enough to unlace myself."

"Why didn't he tell us, do you suppose?" Lizzie continued. "Why hasn't
he been over? Two days and nights, and nothing said or done! Why, it is
outrageous--simply outrageous!"

"Oh, I see what you are driving at!" Jane sat up and began to unlace her
corsets, her yellowish wrists and bony finger working behind her back.
"Now the spots are gone and my head is steady. It is peculiar how they
come and go that way. Yes, I think I see what bothers you. Well, old
pal, I'll tell you. I'll bet my life she is a good girl, and a worker,
too. Country stock, maybe. She looks it. No style to her dress or the
way she does her hair. Yes, yes, I think I understand what is bothering
you. You are wondering--well, you know what I mean. You are wondering if
anybody has told her--well, told her about us--_all_ about us, I mean."

Mrs. Trott showed a tendency to flare up, which her blank bewilderment
seemed to quench. "You can say the most catty things when you try," she
began, but finished with a low groan and sat with her eyes fixed on a
pattern in the worn rug by the bed.

"Well, I am including myself," Jane said. "You may call that catty, but
I don't. What is the use to plaster facts over? Between you and me, I
simply don't believe John would take to a fast girl. If there ever was a
boy that gave fast girls the cold shoulder, John Trott did. I always
thought he was blind, anyway--going about with his figuring and blue
papers with white lines on them. The way he hauled his money out and
threw it at us proved he never stopped to think what he was doing. Yes,
that little wife is the right sort, and I myself don't see how--well,
how he could have brought her right here, you understand. You think so,
too, and that is what is bothering you. You won't admit it, but that is
the nigger in your woodpile, Liz! My! how easy I feel when I'm
unstrapped! The doctor laid the law down on that when I was sick the
last time, you know, but how can I walk through Main Street looking--?"

"For God's sake, dry up!" Lizzie suddenly shot out. "What am I going to
do? How can I get along without his help, and he can't help me and keep
up a separate house. Must--must I go over there? Do you think I--I
ought to call? Doesn't it look like--li