I glanced at Blister. He was leaning forward, almost crouching, his face ashen, his eyes on the number board.
Then slowly the numbers swung into view, and "1, 3, 7," I read.
There was a roar like the falling of ten thousand forest trees. These words flashed through my mind. "We'll know about her when she goes the route, carryin' weight against class." … Yes, we knew about her—now!
I saw Mrs. Dillon's lips move at Uncle Jake's ear. He raised his sightless eyes to the sky, his head nodding. It was as though he visioned paradise and found it good indeed.
I saw Blister's face turn from gray to red, from red to purple. The tenseness went out of his body, and suddenly he was gone, fighting his way through the crowd toward the steps.
I saw Judge Dillon's big arm gather in his trembling wife, and he held her close while the heavens rocked.
These things I saw through a blur, and then I felt Miss Goodloe sway at my side. She clutched at the railing, missed it and sank slowly into her seat. I but glimpsed a white face in which the eyes had changed from blue to violet, when it was covered by two slender gloved hands.
"Are you ill?" I called, as I bent above her.
She shook her head.
"It was too much," I barely heard.