She heard Sam laugh and saw him in a group of men over by the
blacksmith shop. He was having a good time and had forgotten
her.
Her back ached so intolerably that she concluded to go in and rest
once more in the grocer's chair. The baby was growing cross and
fretful. She bought five cents' worth of candy to take home to the
children and gave baby a little piece to keep him quiet. She wished
Sam would come. It must be getting late. The grocer said it was
not much after one. Time seemed terribly long. She felt that she
ought to do something while she was in town. She ran over her
purchases-yes, that was all she had planned to buy. She fell to
figuring on the things she needed. It was terrible. It ran away up
into twenty or thirty dollars at the least. Sam, as well as she,
needed underwear for the cold winter, but they would have to wear
the old ones, even if they were thin and ragged. She would not
need a dress, she thought bitterly, because she never went
anywhere. She rose, and went out on the street once more, and
wandered up and down, looking at everything in the hope of
enjoying something.
A man from Boon Creek backed a load of apples up to the
sidewalk, and as he stood waiting for the grocer he noticed Mrs.
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