"Say, Ella," he cried, "mebbe it's jest
a spurt 'fore--'fore the last. Don't it happen some-times that way--when
folks is dyin'?"
"I don't know," shuddered Ella. "Sh-h! I thought I heard her." And she
hurried across the hall to the sitting-room and the bedroom beyond.
It did not snow much through the night, but in the early morning it
began again with increased severity. The wind rose, too, and by the time
Herrick, the undertaker, drove into the yard, the storm had become a
blizzard.
"I calc'lated if I didn't git this 'ere coffin here purty quick there
wouldn't be no gettin' it here yet awhile," called Herrick cheerfully,
as Jim came to the door.
Jim flushed and raised a warning hand.
"Sh-h! Herrick, look out!" he whispered hoarsely. "She ain't dead yet.
You'll have ter go back."
"Go back!" snorted Herrick. "Why, man alive, 'twas as much as my life's
worth to get here. There won't be no goin' back yet awhile fer me nor no
one else, I calc'late. An' the quicker you get this 'ere coffin in out
of the snow, the better't will be," he went on authoritatively as he
leaped to the ground.
It was not without talk and a great deal of commotion that the untimely
addition to James Norton's household effects was finally deposited in
the darkened parlor; neither was it accomplished without some echo of
the confusion reaching the sick-room, despite all efforts of
concealment.
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