Miss Amelia herself, for some strange reason, seemed unaware of all this. She spent most of her day upstairs. When down iore, she prowled around peacefully, her hands deep in the pockets of her overalls and head bent so low that her was tucked ihe collar of her shirt. There was no bloodstain on her anywhere. Ofteopped and just stood somberly looking down at the cracks in the floor, twisting a lock of her short-cropped hair, and whispering something to herself. But most of the day ent upstairs.
Dark came on. The rain that afternoon had chilled the air, so that the evening was bleak and gloomy as in wiime. There were no stars in the sky, and a light, icy drizzle had set in. The lamps in the houses made mournful, wavering flickers when watched from the street. A wind had e up, not from the s side of the town but from the cold black pinewoods to the north.
The clocks iown struck eight. Still nothing had happehe bleak night, after the gruesome talk of the day, put a fear in some people, and they stayed home close to the fire. Others were gathered in groups together. Some eight or ten men had vened on the poriss Amelias store. They were silent and were indeed just waiting about. They themselves did not know what they were waiting for, but it was this: in times of tension, when some great a is impending, men gather and wait in this way. And after a time there will e a moment when all together they will a unison, not from thought or from the will of any one man, but as though their instincts had merged together so that the decision belongs to no single one of them, but to the group as a whole. At such a time, no individual hesitates. And whether the matter will be settled peaceably, or whether the joint a will result in ransag, violence, and crime, depends oiny. So the men waited soberly on the poriss Amelias store, not one of them realizing what they would do, but knowing inwardly that they must wait, and that the time had almost e.
Now the door to the store en. I was bright and natural-looking. To the left was the ter where slabs of white meat, rock dy, and tobacco were kept. Behind this were shelves of salted white meat and meal. The right side of the store was mostly filled with farm implements and such. At the back of the store, to the left, was the door leading up the stairs, and it en. And at the far right of the store there was another door which led to a little room that Miss Amelia called her office. This door was also open. And at eight oclock that evening Miss Amelia could be seen there sitting before her rolltop desk, figuring with a fountain pen and some pieces of paper.
The office was cheerfully lighted, and Miss Amelia did not seem to notice the delegation on the porch. Everything around her was i order, as usual. This office was a room well-known, in a dreadful way, throughout the try. It was there Miss Amelia transacted all business. On the desk was a carefully covered typewriter which she knew how to run, but used only for the most important dots. In the drawers were literally thousands of papers, all filed acc to the alphabet. This office was also the place where Miss Amelia received sick people, for she enjoyed d and did a great deal of it. Two whole shelves were crowded with bottles and various paraphernalia. Against the wall was a bench where the patients sat. She could sew up a wound with a burnt needle so that it would not turn green. For burns she had a cool, sweet syrup. For unlocated sies