"And to show you we mean what we say, women, I have brung along with me, and, if you say so, am now aiming to turn over to you to keep while you stay, something we can't make no liquor without, something we set a sight of store by; for"--lifting from the ground at his feet a shining coil of copper pipe, and passing caressing hands over it--"hit's the finest worm in Knott County, and the onliest one I got." There was not the slightest hesitation on the part of the women. Amy put out her arms for the worm. Virginia spoke eagerly: "Certainly we'll trust you again; and for my part I deeply regret the words I spoke to you last night, and apologize for them. Forgive me, and I'll never fail to trust your word again. And we'll take the best care of the worm, and I'll tell the people how things are, and everything will be all right." * * * * * So things began to flow peacefully again on Troublesome, and the women entered upon the last three weeks of their stay. Every day Amy and Virginia walked or rode up different creeks or branches, visiting the homes, visiting also the district schools, few and far between, within which, too often, teacher and boys spat tobacco juice over the filthy floors, and the pupils, with their only textbook--a blue-back speller--in hand, wandered from one rude bench to another, talking or studying aloud, or even fighting, at will. Every day, too, the nurse brought hope and healing to the sick, especially to the typhoid cases that had recently started in the village. And every day Isabel, Annette, and the kindergartner, after their regular duties were over, worked busily upon plans for the closing entertainment on the hill, to which the county should be invited. Besides songs, Isabel had in mind various tableaux from old ballads and folk-tales, which should fill hungry eyes with pretty colors and sights, and bring before the actual vision scenes long familiar to the imagination. She had already written home for pieces of velvet and silk and cheesecloth of many colors, and also for a very beautiful dress she had recently worn as bridesmaid, and which was now designed for special use in connection with Lethie. After his reinstatement in the good graces of the women, Fult seemed somewhat chastened, walked softly, obeyed their slightest wish, and made himself unobtrusively useful. To Lethie, when she was on the hill, he was kind, though abstracted; to Isabel his conduct was in every way so perfect that she almost forgot the day of the funeral occasion. But for the fact that a slight veil of melancholy appeared always to envelop him, he would have seemed the same as before.