“I did,” he answered slowly, “but,” with a glance at the sulky, “somethin' seems to have took away my appetite. Teacher, do you mean to—”
But Miss Dawes had withdrawn to the corner of the house, from which viewpoint she seemed to be inspecting the surrounding landscape. Bailey seized Henry by the bridle and backed him into the shafts.
“Back up!” he roared. “Back up, I tell you! You needn't look at me that way,” he added, in a lower tone. “I can't help it. You ain't any worse ashamed than I am. There! the ark's off the ways. All aboard!”
Turning to the expectant widow, he “boosted” her, not too tenderly, up to the narrow seat. Then he climbed in himself. Two on that seat made a tight fit. Bailey took up the reins. Debby leaned forward and peered around the edge of the curtains.
“You!” she shouted. “You, Miss What's-your-name—Dorcas! Come here a minute. I want to tell you somethin'.”
The schoolmistress, her face red and her eyes moist, approached.
“I just wanted to say,” explained Debby, “that I ain't real sure as that diary's there. I burnt up a lot of my old letters and things a spell ago, and seems to me I burnt some old diaries, too, but maybe that wan't one of 'em. Anyhow, I can get them Arizona papers, and I do want you to see 'em. They're the most INTERESTIN' things. Now,” she added, turning to her companion on the seat, “you can git dap just as soon as you want to.”
Whether or not Mr. Bangs wanted to “git dap” is a doubtful question. But at all events he did. Before the astonished Miss Dawes could think of an answer to the observation concerning the diary, the carriage, its long unused axles shrieking protests, moved out of the yard. The schoolmistress watched it go. Then she returned to the sitting room and collapsed in a rocking chair.
Once out from the shelter of the house and on the open road, the sulky received the full force of the wind. The first gust that howled in from the bay struck its curtained side with a sudden burst of power that caused Mrs. Beasley to clutch her driver's arm.
“Good land of mercy!” she screamed. “It blows real hard, don't it?”