But she wouldn't do no such thing ; an' ran off as fast as
she could. She hain't spoke civil sence, though it's most
two weeks now."

His face of sleepless misery, when he concluded this
dismal tale, was fairly heart-rending. Now too that the
color raised by the excitement of Zack's performances had
abated, Mollie noticed how tired and worn he looked.
'' Are you very unhappy ? " she asked by way of a
feeler.
" Yes, I am," he answered earnestly ; " I hain't had
the spirit to work or nothin', sence ; I lay awake the hull
of last night thinkin' about it ; you see it ain't the same
between me an' Doppy, as it is between other folks.
400 SHIFTLESS FOLKS.
Doppy an' me has ben friends from the time we was
dirty an' swearin' an' miserable. An' I've helped Doppy,
an' she's ben good to me, an' I've took care of her in
ways her mother might ha done, if so be as she'd had a
mother, lookin' after her in the matter of Joe. Though
we're respectable, we can't forget how it was when we
could call no man's good word ourn, that is, I can't."

" But you have plenty of other friends now," suggested
MoUie, her soul giving ready homage to his faithfulness,
but womanlike, wanting to try him further.
" Not like Doppy," with his whole soul in the denial ;
" takiu' 'em all together, they ain't worth her little finger.
From the day I shied the kitten at her, straight out,
she's ben more to me, than any other feller in Mil I villa.
