The Miller of Old Church | Page 5

as if I warn't about to confound him, 'an' what I'd
like to have made clear an' easy to me, suh, is what use the Almighty is
goin' to make of that odd leg on the Day of Jedgment? Will he add a
new one onto Reuben,' I axed, 'when, as plain as logic will have it, it
won't be a resurrection, but a creation, or will he start that leg
a-trampin' by itself all the way from Manassas to jine the other at Old
Church?' The parson had been holdin' pretty free all the mornin' with
nobody daring to contradict him, and a man more taken aback by the

power of logic my sight never lit on. 'Spare me, Mr. Doolittle,' was all
he said, never a word mo'. 'Spare me, Mr. Doolittle.'"
"Ah, a tough customer you are," commented Solomon, "an' what
answer did you make to that, suh?"
Old Adam's pipe returned to his mouth, and he puffed slowly a minute.
"'Twas a cry for mercy, Solomon, so I spared him," he responded.
The wagon had reached the well, and without stopping, the large
white-and-red oxen moved on into the turnpike. Bending from her high
seat, Molly Merryweather smiled at the miller, who made a single
stride toward her. Then her glance passed to the stranger, and for an
instant she held his gaze with a pair of eyes that appeared to reflect his
in shape, setting and colour. In the man's face there showed perplexity,
admiration, ironic amusement; in the girl's there was a glimmer of the
smile with which she had challenged the adoring look of the miller.
The flush left the features of young Revercomb, and he turned back,
with a scowl on his forehead, while old Adam cackled softly over the
stem of his pipe.
"Wiles come as natchel to women as wickedness to men, young
Adam," he said. "The time to beware of 'em is in yo' youth befo' they've
bewitched yo'. Why, 'tis only since I've turned ninety that I've trusted
myself to think upon the sex with freedom."
"I'm bewarin'," replied his son, "but when Molly Merryweather widens
her eyes and bites her underlip, it ain't in the natur of man or beast to
stand out agin her. Why, if it had been anybody else but the rector I
could have sworn I saw him squeezin' her hand when he let down the
bars for her last Sunday."
"It's well knowed that when he goes to upbraid her for makin' eyes at
him durin' the 'Have mercy on me,' he takes a mortal long time about
the business," responded Solomon, "but, good Lord, 'tain't fur me to
wish it different, seein' it only bears out all I've argured about false
doctrines an' evil practice. From the sprinklin' of the head thar's but a

single step downward to the holdin' of hands."
"Well, I'm a weak man like the rest of you," rejoined young Adam, "an'
though I'm sound on the doctrines--in practice I sometimes backslide.
I'm thankful, however, it's the lesser sin an' don't set so heavy on the
stomach."
"Ah, it's the light women like Molly Merryweather that draws the eyes
of the young," lamented old Adam.
"A pretty bit of vanity, is she?" inquired the stranger lightly, and fell
back the next instant before the vigorous form of the miller, who swung
round upon him with the smothered retort, "That's a lie!" The boyish
face of the young countryman had paled under his sunburn and he
spoke with the suppressed passion of a man who is not easily angered
and who responds to the pressure of some absorbing emotion.
"Lord, Lord, Abel, Mr. Jonathan warn't meanin' no particular disrespect,
not mo' was I," quavered old Adam.
"You're too pipin' hot, miller," interposed Solomon. "They warn't
meanin' any harm to you nor to the gal either. With half the county
courtin' her it ain't to be expected that she'd go as sober as a grey mare,
is it?"
"Well, they're wastin' their time," retorted the miller, "for she marries
me, thank God, this coming April."
Turning away the next instant, he vaulted astride the bare back of the
mare, and started at a gallop in the direction of the turnpike.
"I'll be blessed if that little gal of Reuben Merryweather's ain't his
religion," commented young Adam.
"An' he's of the opinion that he's going to marry her this comin' spring,"
cackled Solomon. "Well, I could be namin' two or three others of the
same mind, if I'd take the trouble. It's all sensible enough to lambaste
the women when they don't pick up every virtue that we throw away,

but what's to be expected of 'em, I ax, when all the men sence Adam
have been praisin' the sober kind of gal