She lighted the fire, and put food to cook. She covered a new
table, with a new cloth, and set it with new dishes, and placed a
jar of her flowers in the center. What a supper she did cook!
When she had waited until she was near crazed with nervousness,
she heard the wagon coming up the lane. Peeping from the window,
she saw Dannie stop the horses short, and sit staring at the
cabins, and she realized that smoke would be curling from the
chimney, and the flowers and curtains would change the shining
windows outside. She trembled with excitement, and than a great
yearning seized her, as he slowly drove closer, for his brown
hair was almost white, and the lines on his face seemed
indelibly stamped. And then hot anger shook her. Fifteen years of
her life wrecked, and look at Dannie! That was Jimmy Malone's
work.
Over and over, throughout the winter, she had planned this home-
coming as a surprise to Dannie. Book-fine were the things she
intended to say to him. When he opened the door, and stared at
her and about the altered room, she swiftly went to him, and took
the bundles he carried from his arms.
"Hurry up, and unhitch, Dannie," she said. "Your supper is
waiting."
And Dannie turned and stolidly walked back to his team, without
uttering a word.
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