range.

"Honey, I read a story once about two men that had quarreled, and one
of 'em picked up a little rock and put it in his pocket, and for eight
years he carried that rock, and once a year he'd turn it over. And at
last, one day he met the man he hated, and he took out the rock he'd
been carryin' so long, and threw it at him, and it struck him dead.
Now I know as well as if Mary Andrews had told me, that Harvey had
said them very same words to her years before, and she'd carried 'em
in her heart, jest like the man carried the stone in his pocket,
waitin' till she could throw 'em back at him and hurt him as much as
he hurt her. It wasn't right nor Christian. But knowin' Mary Andrews
as I did, I never had a word o' blame for her. There never was a
better-hearted woman than Mary, and I always thought she must 'a' gone
through a heap to make her say such a thing to Harvey.

"Jane Ann said that when she worked at a place she always tried to be
blind and deaf so far as family matters was concerned, and she knew
that she had no business seein' or hearin' anything that went on
between Harvey and Mary, but there they stood, facin' each other, and
she could hear a sparrer chirpin' outside, and the tea-kittle b'ilin'
on the stove, while she stood watchin' 'em, feelin' like she was
charmed by a snake. She said the look in Mary's eyes and the way she
smiled made her blood run cold. And Harvey couldn't stand it. He had
to give in.

"Jane Ann said his hand dropped, and he turned and walked out o' the
house and down towards the barn. Mary watched him till he was out o'
sight, and then she went back to the front porch, and the next minute
she was laughin' and talkin' with Harvey's cousin as if nothin' had
happened.

"Well, for the next half hour Jane Ann said she made her two hands do
the work of four, and when she put the dinner on the table it was
nothin' to be ashamed of. She sliced some ham and fried it, and made
coffee and soda biscuits, and poached some eggs; and when they set
down to the table, and the old judge'd said grace, he looked around,
and, says he: 'How did you know, cousin, that jowl and greens was my
favorite dish?' And while they was eatin' the first course, Jane Ann
made up pie-crust and had a blackberry pie ready by the time they was
ready to eat it. The old judge was a plain man and a hearty eater, and
everything pleased him.

"When they first set down, Mary says, says she: 'You'll have to excuse
Harvey,