"To think that you ain't forgot all that old
foolishness, Reuben!"
"Well, thar's been time enough an' trouble enough, no doubt," he
answered, "but seein' you lookin' so like yo' old self put me in mind of
it."
"Lord, Reuben, I ain't thought of all that for forty years!"
"No mo' have I, Sarah except when I see you on Sundays sittin' across
the church from me. You were a beauty in yo' day, though some folks use
to think that that little fair thing, Mary Hilliard, was better lookin'.
To me 'twas like settin' a dairy maid beside a queen."
"Even my husband thought Mary Hilliard, was prettier," said Sarah, and
her tone showed that this tribute to her youthful vanity had touched her
heart.
"Well, I never did. You were al'ays too good for me an' I never
begrudged you to Abner. He was a better man."
For an instant she looked at him steadily, while living honesty
struggled in her bosom against loyalty to the dead.
"No, Reuben, Abner was not a better man," she said presently, as if the
words were thrust out of her by a chastening conscience. "My pride kept
me up after I had married him; but he was born shiftless an' he died
shiftless.
Pages:
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241