And at the end of it all, instead of a bed and
rest, there was every probability that he must drive to town after
Jimmy; for Jimmy could get helpless enough to freeze in a drift on
a dollar sixty-five.
"Oh, Jimmy, Jimmy!" muttered Dannie." I wish ye wadna." And he was
not thinking of himself, but of the eyes of the woman inside.
So Dannie did all the work, and cooked his supper, because he never
ate in Jimmy's cabin when Jimmy was not there. Then he skinned
rats, and watched the clock, because if Jimmy did not come by
eleven, it meant he must drive to town and bring him home. No
wonder Jimmy chilled at the trapping when he kept his blood on fire
with whiskey. At half-past ten, Dannie, with scarcely half the rats
finished, went out into the storm and hitched to the single buggy.
Then he tapped at Mary Malone's door, quite softly, so that he
would not disturb her if she had gone to bed. She was not sleeping,
however, and the loneliness of her slight figure, as she stood with
the lighted room behind her, struck Dannie forcibly, so that his
voice trembled with pity as he said: "Mary, I've run out o' my
curing compound juist in the midst of skinning the finest bunch o'
rats we've taken frae the traps this winter. I am going to drive to
town fra some more before the stores close, and we will be back in
less than an hour. I thought I'd tell ye, so if ye wanted me ye wad
know why I dinna answer. Ye winna be afraid, will ye?"
"No," replied Mary, " I won't be afraid.
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