The bare and humble furnishing of the room was very distinct in the rich glow—the few chairs, the shelves with the cooking utensils, the churn, a chest, the warping-bars, the spinning-wheel; and their simple domestic significance seemed at variance with the stern and silent armed men grouped about the fire.
A vibrant sound—one of the timbers had sprung in the cold. Soloman rose precipitately.
'Nuthin', Sol, nuthin',' said the old man testily. 'Tain't nigh time yit.'
Nevertheless Sol opened the door. The chill air rushed in. The yellow flames bowed and bent fantastically before it. Outside the gibbous moon hung in the sky, and the light, solemn, ghostly, pervaded with pallid mysteries the snowy vistas of the dense, still woods. The shadow of the black boughs lay in distinct tracery upon the white surface; there was a vague multiplication of effect, and the casual glance could ill distinguish the tree from its semblance. Vacant of illusions was the winding road—silent, and empty, and white, its curve visible from the fireplace through the black rails of the zigzag fence. Hiram Kelsey caught a glimpse, too, of the frosty dilations of a splendid star; then the door closed and Sol came back with jingling spurs to his seat by the fireside.
'Be you-uns satisfied?' demanded Pete with a sneer.
Sol, abashed, said nothing, and once more the ominous silence descended, all moodily watching the broad and leaping flames and the pulsating coals beneath.
Somehow the geniality of the fire suggested another bright and dominant presence that was wont in some sort to illumine the room.
'Whar be D'rindy?' asked Kelsey suddenly.
'Waal—D'rindy,' said Ab, the eldest of the sons, evidently withdrawing his mind with an effort, 'she hev gone ter Tuckaleechee Cove, ter holp nuss Aunt Jerushy's baby. It's ailin', an' bein' ez it air named arter D'rindy, she sets store by it, an' war powerful tormented ter hear how the critter war tuk in its stummick. She kerried Jacob along, too, 'kase she 'lows she hankers arter him when she's away, an' she makes out ez we-uns cross him in his temper, 'thout she air by ter pertect him. I war willin' 'kase it air peacefuller hyar without Jacob 'n with him—though he air my own son, sech ez he be. An' D'rindy hev pompered him till he air ez prideful ez a tur-r-key gobbler, an' jes' about ez cornsiderate.'
'She lef' Mirandy Jane an' me,' said Pete, facetiously showing his great teeth.