TO THE NEW GOD
Jim closed the door of the little shed-room with a bang, and stood listening a moment to the sobs inside.
"`UNTIL DEATH DO US PART,' Kiddo!" he laughed grimly.
He turned back into the room and saw Nance standing at the opposite entrance between the calico curtains, an old, battered, flickering lantern in her hand.A white wool shawl was thrown over the gray head and fell in long, filmy waves about her thin figure.Her deep- sunken eyes were exaggerated in the dim light of lantern and candle.She smiled wanly.
He stopped short at the apparition; a queer shiver of superstitious fear shook him.The white form of Death suddenly and noiselessly appearing from the darkness could not have been more uncanny.He had wondered vaguely while the quarrel with his wife was progressing, what had become of his mother.As the fight had reached its height, he had forgotten her.
She looked at him, blinking her eyes and trying to smile."Where the devil have you been, old gal?" he asked nervously."Nowhere," she answered evasively.
"You've been mighty quiet on the trip anyhow.I see you've brought something back from nowhere."Nance glanced down at the jug she carried in her left hand and laughed.
"What is it?" he asked."Nothin'----"
"Nothin' from nowhere sounds pretty good to me when I see it in a brown jug on Christmas Eve.You're all right, old gal! I was just going to ask if you had a little mountain dew.You're a mind reader.I'll bet the warehouse you keep that stored in is some snug harbor--eh?""They ain't never found it yit!" she giggled."And I'll bet they won't--bully for you!"She took down a tin cup from a shelf and placed it beside the jug.
"Another glass, sweetheart----"
The old woman stared at him in surprise, walked to the shelf and brought another tin cup.
"What do ye want with two?" she asked in surprise.Jim moved toward the stool beside the table.
"Sit down." "Me?"
"Sure.Let's be sociable.It's Christmas Eve, isn't it?""Yeah!" Nance answered cheerfully, taking her seat and glancing timidly at her guest.
Jim seized the jug, poured out two drinks of corn whiskey, handed her one and raised his:
"Well, here's lookin' at you, old girl." He paused, lowered his cup and smiled.
"But say, give me a toast."He nodded toward the shed-room."I'm on my honeymoon, you know."His hostess laughed timidly and glanced at him from the corners of her eyes.She wished to be sociable and make up as best she could for her rudeness on their arrival.
"I ain't never heard but one fur honeymooners," she said softly.
"Let's have it.I've never heard a toast for honeymooners in my life.It'll be new to me--fire away!"Nance fumbled her faded dress with her left hand and laughed again."'May ye live long and prosper an' all yer troubles be LITTLEONES!'"
She laughed aloud at the old, worm-eaten joke and Jim joined."Bully!Bully, old girl--bully!"He lifted his cup and drained it at one draught and Nance did the same.He seized the jug and poured another drink for each.
"Once more----"
He leaned across the table.
"And here's one for you."He squared his body and lifted his cup: "To all your little ones--no matter how big they are!"Jim drained his liquor without apparently noticing her agitation, though he was watching her keenly from the corner of his eye.
The cup she held was lowered slowly until the whiskey poured over her dress and on the floor.Her thin figure drooped pathetically and her voice was the faintest sob:
"I--I--ain't got--none!"
"I heard you had a boy," Jim said carelessly.
The drooping figure shot upright as if a bolt of lightning had swept her.She stared at him in tense silence, trying to gather her wits before she answered.
"Who told you anything about me?" she demanded sternly.
"A fellow in New York," Jim continued with studied carelessness-- "said he used to live down here.""He LIVED down here?" she repeated blankly.
"Yep--come now, loosen up and tell us about the kid." "There ain't nuthin' ter tell--he's dead," she cried pathetically."He said you deserted the child and left him to starve.""He said that?" she growled."Yep."
He was silent again and watched her keenly.
She fumbled her dress and glanced nervously across the table as if afraid to ask more.Unable to wait for him to speak, she cried nervously at last:
"Well--well--what else did he say?"
"That he took the little duffer to New York and raised him." "RAISED him?"She fairly screamed the words, springing to her feet trembling from head to foot.
"Till he was big enough to kick into the streets to shuffle for himself." "The scoundrel said he was dead."Her voice was far away and sank into dreamy silence.She was living the hideous, lonely years again with a heart starved for love.
Jim's voice broke the spell:
"Then you didn't desert him?"The man's eyes held hers steadily.She stared at him blankly and spoke with rushing indignation:
"Desert him--my baby--my own flesh and blood?There's never been a minute since I looked into his eyes that I wouldn't 'a' died fur him."She paused and sobbed.
"He had such pretty eyes, stranger.They looked like your'n--only they wuz puttier and bluer."She lifted her faded dress, brushed the tears from her cheeks and went on rapidly:
"When I found his drunken brute of a daddy was a liar and had another wife, I wouldn't live with him.He tried to make me but I kicked him out of the house-- and he stole the boy to get even with me." Her voice broke, she dropped her head and choked back the tears."He did get even with me, too--he did," she sobbed.
