"Women," he said, and in the dusk his eyes looked very large and dark against the pallor of his face, "I allow the sight of us won't be a welcome one to you no more; but anyhow we come, soon as we was fully at ourselves, and knowed what had happened, to tell you how we feel over last night.
"When you found us working at the still, we was doing just like I told you, getting out timber of a day, but also, of a night, stilling us some liquor to take to Virginny and sell there; not one of us hadn't broke our word to you about drinking and disturbing the peace, nor never aimed to. But though you had no cause, women, you said a hard word to me as you was leaving, when, not liking to see lone women wander by theirselves of a night, I axed if one of us couldn't see you home. You said no, you felt safer alone.
"Women, that word pierced my heart like a pizened arrow, and rankled till hit put me plumb beyond myself, and in a pure franzy. Long as you trusted me, I couldn't disapp'int you; but when you didn't, nothing never mattered—I never cared no more what I done. When I got down off the rock, I drank me a pint of strong liquor; and t'other boys, seeing me, and hearing what you had said, done the same. Before long, we was crazy as lunatics, and I don't ricollect nothing more; but I heared from Billy Lee, when he brung our dinner down to us, that we had rid in and shot up the town again.
"I was mighty sorry to hear hit, women,—all of us was,—and mighty glad to hear nobody wasn't killed but Polly Ainslee's old sow.
"So we come in to-night to tell you how we feel about hit, and to ax you not to let hit put you in the notion to leave. If you allow you'd ruther not stay here with us boys around,—which I wouldn't blame you much atter what we done last night,—I come to tell you we'll all light out immediate for Virginny, with our liquor, and not come back till you've gone. Or, if you feel to put your trust in us one more time, and give us a chance to right ourselves, we'll pour out every bit and grain of that whiskey, and not make nor drink nary 'nother drap long as you stay here.
"And to show you we mean what we say, women, I have brung along with me, and, if you say so, am now aiming to turn over to you to keep while you stay, something we can't make no liquor without, something we set a sight of store by; for"—lifting from the ground at his feet a shining coil of copper pipe, and passing caressing hands over it—"hit's the finest worm in Knott County, and the onliest one I got."
There was not the slightest hesitation on the part of the women. Amy put out her arms for the worm. Virginia spoke eagerly: "Certainly we'll trust you again; and for my part I deeply regret the words I spoke to you last night, and apologize for them. Forgive me, and I'll never fail to trust your word again. And we'll take the best care of the worm, and I'll tell the people how things are, and everything will be all right."
So things began to flow peacefully again on Troublesome, and the women entered upon the last three weeks of their stay. Every day Amy and Virginia walked or rode up different creeks or branches, visiting the homes, visiting also the district schools, few and far between, within which, too often, teacher and boys spat tobacco juice over the filthy floors, and the pupils, with their only textbook—a blue-back speller—in hand, wandered from one rude bench to another, talking or studying aloud, or even fighting, at will.
Every day, too, the nurse brought hope and healing to the sick, especially to the typhoid cases that had recently started in the village. And every day Isabel, Annette, and the kindergartner, after their regular duties were over, worked busily upon plans for the closing entertainment on the hill, to which the county should be invited. Besides songs, Isabel had in mind various tableaux from old ballads and folk-tales, which should fill hungry eyes with pretty colors and sights, and bring before the actual vision scenes long familiar to the imagination. She had already written home for pieces of velvet and silk and cheesecloth of many colors, and also for a very beautiful dress she had recently worn as bridesmaid, and which was now designed for special use in connection with Lethie.