"Then I'll be yours," he said, cheerfully. "But bless you, widows never die. Come on down-town, Hippy, and we'll choose the ring."
"Micah, I couldn't walk. My limbs are as weak as wool. I guess I'll go to bed."
"All right, Hippy," he said, "but don't go so far in your humility that you'll get the pins knocked out from under you. I didn't start to do that. Cheer up, you've got a soft spot somewhere. You'll be a saint yet and wear a crown with seven stars," and he gallantly escorted her to the staircase, admonishing her to tell no one the subject of their conversation.
CHAPTER XVIII.
A STEP IN ADVANCE.
A week or two went by, and all who came within the circle of Mrs. Prymmer's influence noticed a change in her, although not one of her friends or relatives ascribed the change to its real cause.
She was softened, humbled, and quiet, and Justin, in the midst of his perusal of the evening paper, would often hold it aside and look at her with a puzzled face.
One day the enlightenment came, precipitated by an attack of nightmare on the part of Captain White.
One hour after midnight the family was alarmed by a frantic screaming and a sound of running feet. Justin and his wife, Mary, and nervous and shrieking Mrs. Prymmer rushed to the doors of their respective bedrooms, and found the curious spectacle presented to them of a figure clad in white running, darting, leaping, kicking up its heels, and apparently trying to scale the wall of the lower hall.