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"Convert hell! Don't she know he's the brainiest man in town? Of all little she-fools!"

After a while Tug came out of his amazement and began to prepare for the dance. He laid out all the appurtenances of a dance: tie, clean shirt, cartridges, buttons, automatic, Sunday suit. . . . It was high time he was setting out for the Meredith place, for no one knew what finesse he would require to get away with Mary Lou. In the midst of these preparations he glanced at Abner, who sat humped over on the bed, hands hanging between knees and staring at the straw mat which more or less covered the floor.

"Ain't you goin'?"

"No-ope."

"What you goin' to do?" he asked with concern.

"Don't know—Shallburger's goin' to have a meetin' to-night."

"A meetin'! Is Shallburger some kind of a preacher?"

"Naw, he says he's figgered out a way fer ever'body to live happy an' not work so much," explained Abner vaguely.

"Hell, if a man don't do nothin' he'd nachelly be happy; say, Ab, be independent, git another gal an' come on to the dance."

The very thought of another girl filled Abner with a sense of physical repulsion. "Good Lord—no," he shuddered.

Presently he got up, found his hat, and moved slowly toward the door.

"I'll jest see what Shallburger says—it'll beat settin' here listenin' to—" He nodded bleakly toward Nessie's room and moved out the door.

After her interview with Abner, Nessie Sutton went back to her bedroom a-quiver in every nerve of her body. She did not know what had happened to her. She entered her bare room with a sensation of being tall and giddily poised. She thought of Abner's face, the tones of his voice, the way he held her note in his hand. Back of these dancing pictures was the unhappy duty she must perform. She entered her