r was so provoked at a man in my
life. I'd like to know who cares whether he eats another bite or not.
Actually, I believe he thought the neighbors had come to sympathize with
him instead of to nurse his wife. And when she was dead he went about
blubbering that he couldn't live but a few days."

"He'll outlive us all," said the Major. "He told us yesterday that he
was threatened with convulsions, and Gid swore that a convulsion was
about the last thing he ought to fear, that he was too lazy to entertain
such an exertion."

In this talk Jim felt not even the slightest interest. He wanted to talk
about Louise. But not in Mrs. Cranceford's manner nor in her eyes when
she looked straight at him was there a hint that Tom had told her that
the girl had been seen. Perhaps the boy had decided to elect him to this
unenviable office. The Major asked him about his trip, but he answered
as if he cared not what he said; but when shortly afterward the Major
went out, Taylor's unconcern fell from him and he stood up and in
tremulous anxiousness looked at Mrs. Cranceford, expecting her to say
something. Surely Tom had told her nothing, for she quietly smiled at
him as he stood there, awkwardly and distressfully fumbling with
himself.

"I have a letter from her," she said.

Taylor sat down hard. "A letter from her!"

"Yes; received it this morning."

"But has Tom told you anything?"

"Yes; everything."

"And she has written to you since then?"

"Yes; I will show you." On a corner of the mantel-piece was a work-box,
and unlocking it, she took out a letter and handed it to him. "Read it,"
she said, "and if you hear the Major coming, put it away. Some
references in it would have to be explained, and so I have decided not
to let him see it."

He took the letter, and standing where the light from the hanging lamp
fell brightest, read the following:

"My Dear Mother:--By this time Tom must have told you of our meeting.
And what a meeting it was. He was worse than an orang-outang, but I must
say that I admire his courage, and I struggled to help him when he was
in the thick of his fight, but my friends tore me away, realizing that
flight was our only redemption. Of course you will wonder why I was in
such a place, and I don't know that I can explain in a satisfactory
manner to you, and surely not to father. I would have introduced Tom to
my friends had he given me time, but it appears that he was in too much
of a hurry to attend