There she encountered Gret Reed, Seth Reed's wife, who, knowing Bill's eccentricities, had gone for some cotton when he first asked for it.
"I have it, Lizzī," said Gret; "your mother told me where it was."
"Just like you, Gret; always the first to do anything that is asked."
Gret took the cotton to Bill, who stuffed it in his ears. Then he shouted, "Partners for the fifth dance."
Gill led Lizzī to the floor. She was very happy, betrothed to the man she loved. How light her step, how graceful her movement, as the tall, comely girl walked through the quadrille by the side of her promised husband!
After the dancers were seated when this quadrille was finished, Bill took Hunch aside and asked:
"Hunch, are you afraid of the devil?"
"Ain't afeard uv nuthin'!"
Hunch looked it. His wrinkled old face, with its expression of cunning, and his disfigured form suggested that he was on intimate terms with all sorts of evil spirits.
"The devil is here to-night, Hunch, begging me to play for him to dance, and I don't want to hear him. That's why I put the cotton in my ears. But I will have to play for him. He never lets me go without a dance when he comes around. If I refuse to play, he gives me a lower-region chills-and-fever that makes my bones ache and my flesh burn. But to-night he will have to wait until the party is over; then I will play for him. He will dance on the roof. When I give you the nod, just take your cornet, sneak up on the roof and blow a hole through him, will you?"