96 THE SOUTH COUNTRY 



" Let me see " 



" But how is Maggie Looker ? " broke in the sailor 

 upon a genial answer in the bud. 



" Oh, didn't you know ? She took ill very soon after 

 you went away, and then they thought she was all right 

 again; but they could not quite get rid of the cough, and 

 it got bad in the winter, and all through the spring it 

 was worse." 



" And so she died in the summer." 



" So she did." 



" Oh, Christ ! but what times we had." 



And then, in reminiscences fast growing gay the mere 

 triumph of memory, the being able to add each to the 

 other's store, was a satisfaction they told the story of a 

 pretty country girl whom they had quarrelled over until 

 she grew too proud for both; how heavy was her hair; 

 how she could run, and nobody was like her for finding 

 a wasps'-nest. Her boldness and carelessness filled them 

 with envy still. 



" I reckon we old ones would call her a tomboy now," 

 said the sailor. 



" I should say we would." 



" Now, I wonder what sort of a wife she would have 

 made?" 



" Hum, I don't know . . ." 



" Do you remember that day her and you and me got 

 lost in the forest ? " 



" Yes, and we were there all night, and I got a hiding 

 for it." 



" Not Maggie." 



" Not poor Maggie." 



" And when we couldn't see our way any more we 



