heard and immediately answered; anyhow peace slowly enveloped him once
more, the melody of hope was again uppermost in his mind. He went
forward, procuring a cigarette from a mended ragged pocket.

His house, reached by a short steep path and sagging steps, was dark;
at first he saw no one, then the creak of a rocking-chair in the open
doorway indicated Bella, his wife.

"Give me a cigarette," she demanded, her penetrating voice
dissatisfied.

"You know I don't want you to smoke anywhere you can be seen," he
answered. "Since we've come here to live we have to mind the customs.
The women'll never take to you smoking cigarettes."

"Ah, hell, what do I care! We came here, but it ain't living. It makes
me sick, and you make me sick I Can't you sing and pray in the city as
well as among these hicks?"

"I'm afraid of it," he said, brief and somber. "And I don't want
Flavilla brought up with any of the gang we knew. Where is she?"

"I sent her to bed. She fussed round till she got me nervous."

"Did she feel good?"

"If she didn't a smack would have cured her."

He passed Bella, rocking sharply, into the dank interior.