The Shoulders of Atlas

nner, and Sylvia glanced from one to the other of the two men. After Horace had gone to school she went out in th

and Mr. Allen this morn

"I don't know as anything ailed us. I don't know what

ail you. You

what you are

You've got all the weeds out. What on earth are y

what you are

ny alone, and get the weeds out from around that syringa bush. You act as if

tly turned his attention to the syringa bush. He always obeyed a woman i

oring expedition; then she stopped suddenly, reflecting. The end of her reflection was that she took off her gingham apron, tied on a nice white one trimmed with knitted lace, and went down the street to Mrs. Thomas P. Ayres's. Thomas P. Ayres had been dead for the last t

lways wrinkled her forehead, but in some inscrutable fashion the wrinkles had always smoothed out. Her forehead was smooth as a girl's. She smiled, and the smile was exact

ot to stop long," said Sylvia, "b

delicate flowered paper and a net-work of green vines growing in bracket-pots, which stood all about. There were

," she said, "and it's a warm mo

ed Mrs. Ayres, sitting down opposite Mrs. W

ucy this

with a sick headache," she said. "She has an awful l

t you get

I ought to take her to Alford to Dr. Gilbert, but she doesn't want to go. She says it is too expensive, and she says there's nothing the matter with her;

I was here I thought she didn't look real well. She's got

head. "The color's pretty, but you can see too plain

aid Mrs. Whitman, "I am g

ha

ink Miss Farrel's

know. It

he keeps some pink stuff that she uses in a box as

fashion. "I have heard, of course, that some women do use such things,

had brought her there. She had reached i

I have heard of her saying about a girl, when I know it isn't true, I make up my mind those things are true about the wo

ssion. Her sweet eyes hardened and narrow

. No living woman was ever made so there wasn't a flaw in her face but that there was a flaw in her so

she said?" as

d I ain't going to begin now," said Sylvia. He

did sh

nswered, evasively. "When a woman talks about a girl running after a man, I think myself she live

Allen or any man. When she went on those errands to your house I had to fairly make her go. She said that folks would think she was running after Mr. Allen, even if he wasn't there, a

ything. Of course, I knew bett

yres, with that forceful indignation of wh

lips to speak, when a boy came running into the

sation. At the same time she began to notice that the road was filled with children running and exclaiming. She herself hurried to the kitchen door, and Mrs. Ayres turned an ashy face in her directi

woman nervously by the ar

e stairs. The grocer's boy looked at them. He had a happy, importan

Hart murdered her,

aid Sylvia. Lu

important in his own estimation nor that of others. Now he knew what it was to be important. "Y

rld. Why, I went to school

demanded. "Miss Farrel was a steady boarder, and Lucinda ain't had many steady boarders latel

o keep to-day," remar

aid Sylvia, angrily. "W

l come out at the trial. Hannah Simmons is going to be a

y," said Sylvia. "What makes them

el stable, says she did," said the b

e!" said she. "He's half Canadian. Father was Fr

said Mrs. Ayres. "I we

go straight back up-stairs and put this out of your mind, or you'll be down sick. Go straight up-stairs and lie

r mother, with a wonderful, firm gentleness-"right where you are.

be she ain't dead, after all. I heard all this, but you never can tell anything by what folks say. You had better mind your ma and put it all out of your head." The

ghtened face, and stared at

n't. You had bett

ll a rumor," said

ory, I think," said she. "Go right up-st

e. Then the boy spoke again. "It's so, fast enough," he said, i

't, poor child

was a favorite here. I never knew why, and I guess nobody else ever did. I don't care what she may have intimated-I mean what

readful nervou

candy from a recipe she found in the paper. I think her stomach is sort of upset, too

aid Sylvia.

to go. "I wonder if they'll h

never did it any more than I did.

for money?" demanded Sylvia. "Hang her! You'd better run along, sonny; the other customers wil

oor, and they heard his merry whi