I dare say the sight of me, standing there with my eyes closed and looking fully convinced that I was dead, must have been vastly amusing to the two young ladies, who had followed Aunt Jerusha to the door. They laughed as if I had been the prince of clowns, and had just performed a most funny trick in the ring. I began to feel as if I had, too.
Aunt rushed forward and gave me a shake.
"Another blunder, John," she said; "it's plain as the nose on a man's face that Providence never intended you to commit suicide."
And then Blue-Eyes, repressing her mirth, came forward, half shy and half coaxing, and said to me:
"How my sister and I would feel if you had killed yourself on our account! Come! do please show us the way to our boarding-house. Mamma will be so anxious about us."
Cunning witch! she knows, how to twist a man around her little finger.
"Come," she continued, "let me untie this ugly rope."
And I did let her, and picked up my hat to walk with them to the Widow Cooper's.
They made themselves very agreeable on the way—so that I would think no more of hanging myself, I suppose.
Only one more little incident occurred on the road. We met a tramp. He was a roughly-dressed fellow, with a straw hat such as farmers wear, whose broad brim nearly hid his face. He sauntered up impudently, and, before we could pass him, he chucked Blue-Eyes under the chin. In less than half a second he was flying backward over the rail fence, although he was a tall fellow, more than my weight.