Mrs. Lathrop gasped again.
"Mrs. Lathrop, I never had it in me to conceal nothin' from you. We've been good friends 'n' true through thick 'n' thin, through my father 'n' your son 'n' every other species o' Heaven-sent infliction, f'r years 'n' years 'n' years. 'N' now I ain't goin' to shut you out o' the inside truth o' this awful day. You see me set off this mornin' bright 'n' beamin', 'n' you see me come home this night burnin' 'n' bitter, 'n' it's nothin' but right's you sh'd be fully took in to the betwixt 'n' between. It'll mebbe be a lesson to you some day if anythin' sh'd come up 's led you to look to be extra happy all of a sudden, 'n' you'll remember this hour 'n' jus' firmly go back into the house 'n' shut the door 'n' say, 'Life's a delusion 'n' a snare, like Susan Clegg's Cousin Marion.' It's better for you to learn the lesson 's all is vanity now, than to wait 'n' have it fall on your head like a unexpected pickle-jar, the way 's this day 's fell on mine."
Mrs. Lathrop's eyes grew big.
"Mrs. Lathrop, in the first place I started out all wrong. Knoxville ain't on this line a tall. It's on the A. 'n' B., 'n' only the junction is on this line. Mrs. Lathrop, don't you never trust yourself to no junction in this world o' sin 'n' sorrow, whatever else you may in your folly see fit to commit. My experience c'n jus' 's well be a warnin' to you too, f'r I was put off three miles from where there ain't no omnibus, 'n' I had to leg it over a road 's is laid out three hills to the mile. I ain't one 's is give to idle words, but I will remark 't by the time I'd clum the fourth hill I hadn't no kind o' family feelin's left alive within me, 'n' when I did finally get to Knoxville I was so nigh to puffed out 't I c'd hardly find breath to ask where Cousin Marion did live. It was a boy skippin' rope 's I asked, 'n' he never quit skippin' for one second out o' politeness. Seems he was doin' a thousand steady on a bet, 'n' I'm free to confess 's I felt pretty foolish askin' questions 'n' his rope like to catch on my nose every other word. I finally made out, though, 's Cousin Marion lived out the other end o' town, 'n' so I walked on till I come to the road. Mrs. Lathrop, it was another road o' hills, 'n' I must say 's the sight made my blood run cold for the third time in one day. F'r a minute I thought seriously o' jus' takin' a train away ag'in 'n' lettin' Cousin Marion fiddle alone f'r another fifty years, f'r I give you my word o' honor, Mrs. Lathrop, 's I was 'most dead, 'n' Lord only knows what made me keep on, f'r what came after was enough to shake my faith in the Lord forever 'f I really believed 's any one but Cousin Marion had one word to say in the matter. But I was raised to finish up all things 's is begun, 'n' I snapped my teeth tight together 'n' set out over them extra hills with all the resignation 's I c'd scrape up f'r the need o' the moment. I was hot inside 'n' hot outside, but I'd made up my mind to see the thing through 'n' so I pegged right along.
"Well, Mrs. Lathrop, 'f I was on the witness stand with Bibles above 'n' below, I c'd n't but swear 's it was two miles 'f it was a cent. 'N' even then they was a long two miles. I was on my very last legs when I got there, 'n' nothin' 't I see revived me none. Mrs. Lathrop, the awfullest old tumble-down house 's ever you see—pigs in the yard, 'n' 'Prim' on the gate-post! 'N' me standin' pantin' for breath, 'n' related to 'em all!"
Mrs. Lathrop's eyes grew bigger and bigger.
"There was a old man a-sittin' on a chair on the porch in one boot 'n' one slipper 'n' a cane. He looked 't me 's if it 'd be nothin' but a joy to him to eat me up alive 'n' jus' relish to gnaw the bones afterwards. You c'n maybe realize, Mrs. Lathrop, 's I wasn't no ways happy 's I walked a little piece up towards him 'n' said 's I 'd like to see my cousin, Marion Prim. He give such a nod 's seemed 's if his head 'd fly off, 'n' I took it 's she was somewhere near 'n' a-comin'. So, 's I was all used up, I jus' started to sink right down on the steps to wait for her.
"Oh, my soul 'n' body, that minute!—The awful shock!—Oh, Mrs. Lathrop! you never in all your life dreamed such a yell 's he give! I like to 'a' went deaf! I jumped worse 'n 'f I 'd been shot stone-dead. Wild whoopin' Indians was sleepin' babes beside him. 'Not on my steps!' he shrieked, poundin' with his cane 'n' shakin' with his fist,—'not on my steps,' he howled louder 'n all below,—'not while I 'm alive!—not while I c'n prevent!—not while I c'n help it!—no Clegg sits afore me, not now 'n' not never!' You c'n imagine, Mrs. Lathrop, 's I didn't get very far to sat down under them circumstances. I trembled all over, 'n' I backed off quite a little ways 'n' looked at him. He kept chokin' 'n' gaspin' 'n' purple 'n' swallowin', 'n' after a while I got up courage to ask him where Cousin Marion was. 'N' then—oh, Mrs. Lathrop!—'n' then—well, honest, I thought's he was goin' to bust!—'n' then, 'I'm Cousin Marion!' he yelled right in my face,—'I'm Cousin Marion, Susan Clegg!' 'n' at that, Mrs. Lathrop, I went so faint in my knees 'n' so rumbly in my ears 't you c'd 'a' clubbed me with a straw 'n' gagged me with a wisp o' hay that minute. I jus' stood starin', 'n' you c'n believe me or not just's you please, but I never was so nigh to fallen over backwards in all my life before. I c'd feel cold drops like water on a duck's back, 'n' my senses was that mixed 't 'f you'd told me 's my heels was in my hair I wouldn't 'a' doubted you. I d'n' know 's I ever was scared in all my life afore, but when he screamed them awful words, my very insides got clammy. I c'd n't say a livin' word, I c'd n't make a livin' move; I c'd only stand 'n' shake 'n' listen, 'n' him keepin' on yellin' 'n' poundin' like mad.
"'Susan Clegg,' he screamed, 'Susan Clegg,'—'n' he kep' poundin' harder 'n' harder 'n' gettin' redder 'n' redder every minute,—'Susan Clegg, I'm glad you've come; I've wanted you to come; I've wanted you to come f'r a long time. I did n't know who it'd be, but I 've been wantin' somebody to come 'n' been waitin' f'r 'em to come f'r fifty years 'n' more too. I've been holdin in f'r fifty years! I've been thinkin' what I wanted to say f'r fifty years! Now I c'n say it! Now I c'n be happy sayin' it! I wish it was your father's ears a-shiverin' there afore me, but yours 'll do.'
"My heavens alive, Mrs. Lathrop, you'd ought to 'a' seen him! He went from red to purple 'n' from purple to mos' black, 'n' his eyes stood right out, 'n' he shook his cane right in my face 'n' screamed loud enough to set the dead jumpin'.