CHAPTER IX
ORLICK WORKS EVIL
Lem listened in awe to her panting, hurried words, looking down into her pain-swept features, struck dumb with the earnest vehemence of her avowal. The girl went on:
"I couldn't bust my vow, Lem. Hit air jest heah in my breast by day an' by night. Hit follers me alers, Lem—follers me like a hant. I don't lay no store by nuthin' till hit air gone away—an' hit'll never go away till th' ghost-man's daid."
Lem lunged forth out of a stupor.
"Gawd'llmoughty, Belle-Ann, yo'-all hain't a-lowin' thet I don't want t' kill em, air yo'?" he cried, in a tempest of chagrin and amazement.
"No, no, no!" she interposed hastily. "I know thet yore a-watchin' an' a-waitin' an' a-lookin' fo' em."
She took the hat Lem picked up from the ground, saying:
"Yo'll do somethin' perticlar like, Lem, when yo' do kill em. Keep a-watchin', an' a-tryin', Lem, but don't 'low em t' git first bead on yo', Lem. He air a hant."
"Ef I air lucky, an' kill em—will yo'-all promise then, Belle-Ann?" implored the boy in low, yearning tones. Side by side they were walking now.