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Show 98 HICII.\hD II UitDJS. paper, as tell it to a woman. 'l'bcrc won't be n. :McthoJi~t preacher thnt don't hear of it the first week, and not a meeting in the country that won't talk of it the second. They ha,·c quite enouglt of other folks' nfl'airs to blab, Betsy; we needn't give th em any of mine." "You well enough know, Ben rickctt, that this sort of tnlk means nothing. You know I am not the woman to make her own or her husband's concerns the busin ess of the country. I go not often to the church . I do not often sec the preachers, :md there is very little to sny between us. It might be much better if there were more; and you know well enough, tlwt I see few women nnd have 110 neighbors. "\Vc arc not the pcoIJle to lmve ncighbors-whnt would tempt them 1 It is enough for me, Den, to stay at home, and keep as much out of sight as I can, as well on your account as on nccount of that llOOr ignorant creature." "Pshaw! you talk too much of Jane, and think too much of her folly. She is no more a fool than most other girls of her age, and talks far less llOllSCHSC. She's quite as good as any of them, :md a devilish sight handsomer than most of them. Tilerc's hardly one tlwt wouldn't be glnd to have her face." "You mean me, fathc1· Ben, don't you !"said the witless one, l)erk ing up her face with a smile and rais ing it under the chin of l'ickett. "Go, Jane, go nr}4:1 IHit t hi ngs to rights on the table, and don't mind what we're a saying." The girl obeyed reluctantly, and the fatl1 er, tapping her on the head kindly, the oHly parti11g wh ich he gave her, left the house, and proceeded to his horse which was fastened to the fence. There he nnangcd the saddl e, and while thus employed his wife came to him. "Ben Pickett," she said, resuming tl1e subj ect of her apprehensions, "I hear that Richard llm·dis is going to tl1e ' nation' to-day." "\Yell! what of that!" said Pickett gruffly. "Nothing but this, Ben; I'm afraid that l1is going to the 'nation,' has something to do with your j ourney. Now, I don't know what it is that troubles me, but I am troubled, and have been so ever since I heard that Richard was going to-day." THE BLOOD HOUN D ON TllF: SCENT. "And how did yon henr it 1" "From June." "J nne, the fool! how did she hear it 1" " She's a fool, but there's no need for you to call her so always, Ben. I t's not right; it's not like a fath er. As for where she heard it, I can't say; I didn't ask her; perhaps from some of the negroes ; old llilly, from 'Sq uire Eastcrby's, was over h ere, last night." "I..ast night! old Dilly! at wlwt hour was he here 1" "Nay, I don't lmow exactly. H e went away just before John llut·dis came." I'ickett nppeared annoyed by the in telligence, but was silent and concealed his annoyance, whnte\'Cr may have occasioned it, by strapping his sadd le and busying himself with the bridle of his horse. "You sny nothing, Ben; but tell me, I beg you, and ease my mind, only tell me that the business you're going upon don't concern Richnrd limclis. Say, only say, you don't go the same road with Uichard Hurd is, tllat you didn't know that he was going, th~tt you won't follow him." "And how should I say such a thing, Betsy," replied the now obdurate rufllnn, "when I don't know which road he's going 1 How can I follow him , if I don't know tho track he takes!" "~rhat's not it - not it. Tell me that you won't try to find it, that you don't menn to follow him , that-oh! my God, that I should ask such a thing of my llllsband-that you nrc not going nfter Richard Hmdis "to kill him!" "Betsy, you're a worse fool tltan Jane," was the re1)ly of l'ickett. "\Vhat the devil put sucl1 nonsense into your head 1 ·what makes you think I would do such a thing1 It's true, I hate Dick llurdis, but I don't hate him bad enough to kill him mtlcss in fair fight. If he' ll give me fair fight at long shot, by G-d, I'd like nothing better than to crack at him; but I'm not thinking of him. If I had wanted to kill him, don't you think I'd a done it long before, when l10 was kicking me nbout like a. foot-bnll. You may be sme I won't. try to do it now, when he's let me alone, and when, as you say yourself, he's going out of the country. Damn him, let him go in peace, say !." |