Jest what he
meant ter do in the end, an' how he meant ter do it, she didn't know;
an' she said with a great sob in her voice, that she didn't believe he
knew either. All he did know, apparently, was that he didn't mean his ma
should find out an' grieve over it--how he had failed. But whatever he
was goin' ter do, it was taken quite out of his hands at the last.
"As fer Bessie, now,--it seems as if she can't do enough fer Sam an'
Mis' Hadley, she's that good ter 'em; an' they set the world by her.
She's got a sad, proud look to her eyes, but Jimmy's secret is safe.
"As I said, I saw old Sam an' his wife in the cemetery to-night. They
stopped me as usual, an' told me all over again what a good boy Jimmy
was, an' how smart he was, an' what a lot he'd made of himself in the
little time he'd lived. The Hadleys are old an' feeble an' broken, an'
it's their one comfort--Jimmy's success."
Uncle Zeke paused, and drew a long breath. Then he eyed me almost
defiantly.
"I ain't sayin' that Jimmy did right, of course; but I ain't sayin'--
that Jimmy did wrong," he finished.
A Summons Home
Mrs. Thaddeus Clayton came softly into the room and looked with
apprehensive eyes upon the little old man in the rocking-chair.
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