Orville made no answer. He moved his feet again uneasily. Presently he said: "I expect my mother needs a black shawl, too. Seemed to me her'n looked kind o' rusty at church Sunday. Notice it, Emarine?" "No," said Emarine. "Seemed to me she was gittin' to look offul old. Emarine"--his voice broke; he came a step nearer--"it'll be the first Christmas dinner I ever eat without my mother." She drew back and looked at him. He knew the look that flashed into her eyes, and shrank from it. "You don't have to eat this 'n' without 'er, Orville Parmer! You go an' eat your dinner with your mother 'f you want! I can get along alone. Are you goin' to order them things? If you ain't, just say so, an' I'll go an' do 't myself!" He put on his hat and went without a word. Mrs. Palmer took the saucepan from the stove and set it on the hearth. Then she sat down and leaned her cheek in the palm of her hand, and looked steadily out the window. Her eyelids trembled closer together. Her eyes held a far-sighted look. She saw a picture; but it was not the picture of the blue reaches of sky, and the green valley cleft by its silver-blue river. She saw a kitchen, shabby compared to her own, scantily furnished, and in it an old, white-haired woman sitting down to eat her Christmas dinner alone. After a while she arose with an impatient sigh. "Well, I can't help it!" she exclaimed. "If I knuckled down to her this time, I'd have to do 't ag'in. She might just as well get ust to 't first as last. I wish she hadn't got to lookin' so old an' pitiful, though, a-settin' there in front o' us in church Sunday after Sunday. The cords stand out in her neck like well-rope, an' her chin keeps a-quiv'rin' so! I can see Orville a-watchin' her--" The door opened suddenly and her mother entered. She was bristling with curiosity. "Say, Emarine!" She lowered her voice, although there was no one to hear. "Where d' you s'pose the undertaker's a-goin' up by here? Have you hear of anybody--" "No," said Emarine. "Did Orville stop by an' tell you to hurry up?" "Yes. What's the matter of him? Is he sick?" "Not as I know of. Why?" "He looks so. Oh, I wonder if it's one o' the Peterson children where the undertaker's a-goin'! They've all got the quinsy sore throat." "How does he look? I don't see 's he looks so turrable." "Why, Emarine Parmer! Ev'rybody in town says he looks _so_! I only hope they don't know what ails him!" "What _does_ ail him?" cried out Emarine, fiercely. "What are you hintin' at?" "Well, if you don't know what ails him, you'd ort to; so I'll tell you. He's dyin' by inches ever sence you turned his mother out o' doors." Emarine turned white. Sheet lightning played in her eyes.