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Jim. But no indictment was ever brought. The original charge of conspiracy to embezzle the county funds remained on the sheriff's blotter, but the revenge of the hillman on Railroad Jones bespoke his innocence on that count; so by a quirk so characteristic of the hills, public opinion exonerated Sandage of theft because he had committed murder, and excused him of murder because the villagers felt a certain wild justice in his vengeance. Eventually the tragedy would dwindle in the memory of the village until it merely marked a date in county history—the winter Jim Sandage killed Railroad Jones—as many another homicide had done.

During his stay at the Sandages', Abner Teeftallow lived in a state of painful indecision in regard to Nessie Belshue and his little natural daughter. He had told Nessie at the funeral that he would come over and see her in a day or two, but he never had. The condemnation of the village lay over such a course, and Abner was growing chary of opposing it. He began considering his good name; his reputation. . . . He was growing older rapidly these days; being crushed into the village mould; hardening into a villager no matter what generous impulses he may once have had.

On the other hand, after the murder of Railroad Jones, Abner knew that Adelaide was not for him. He had lost both women at a stroke, and an endless emptiness filled his days. He could not contemplate any other girl, so the only real objective in the life of an ordinary hillman, marriage and a family, had been taken from him. Any other career, some constructive work to engage his life with its cold sufficiency, was so remote from him as never to enter his comprehension. Even the simple massing together of property was too abstract an undertaking for the poorhouse boy. Besides, he had had money, and it had brought him boredom. He thought he would go West—to Texas.

One day he heard that Mrs. Jones and Adelaide were going to move away from Lanesburg. The news gave him a kind of shock. It seemed impossible that Lanesburg would no longer contain the Jones family; Railroad had dominated