The Third Violet

d because of a broken hinge. A dog barked with

te setter, and he partly expressed his emotion by twisting his body into a fantastic curve and then dancing over the ground with his head and his tail very near to each other. He

. Hawker saw his two sisters shading their eyes and peering down the yellow stream. Presently they

and unanswerable interrogation they grappled the clothes case

r, as he entered. His eyes were bright. The old mother reached her arms to his neck. She murmured soft and half-articulate words. Meanwhile the dog writhed from one to another. H

tences at him. "Pa's out in the barn, Will. What made you so late? He said maybe he'd go up to the cross-r

ted anxiously, "Have

id Hawke

ng right away." They bustled about the kitchen and dove from time

Well, William, home again, hey?" Hawker's grey father came stamping genially into the room. "I thought maybe you

oted his tie and propounded some questions concerning it. His mother watched to make sure that he should cons

, "do you remember Lil' Johnson? Yeh

all ready, mother

this mornin

d the elder sister. "Well, he's dead. Yep

along, William?" asked the

casion

Perkinson's." The old man paused for a moment

ything abou

e got a new buggy-but it didn't break nothin'. I'm goin' to sell the oxen in the fall; I don't want to winter 'em. And then in the spring I'll get a good hoss

chool-teacher," sai

ight where I thought you'd see it, and you never took no notice. Ain't it nice? Fat

ds and the fields came sweetly to his nostrils. The crickets chanted their hymn of the night. On the black