"I—" said Mrs, Lathrop.
"Good-by," said Susan.
Mrs. Lathrop slept some that afternoon and rocked more. She experienced no very marked flutterings in the region of her heart; indeed, she was astonished herself at the calmness of her sensations.
The deacon had not come when Susan returned. Susan looked somewhat puzzled.
"Anybody been here since me?" she inquired, not facing her friend, but examining the stovepipe with interest.
"No; no—"
"Mrs. Jilkins is all safe," she said next.
"I'm so—"
"That automobile run 'way past Cherry Pond, 'n' their hired man see her ridin' by 'n' made after her on a mule. The gasolene give out before the mule did, so he hauled her home, 'n' the man in the cap come 'n' took the automobile back to town."
"So it's all—"