“My Lord alive!” cried Mrs. Lathrop.

“So you see you ain’t sure whether your leg ’s still there or not.  However, I ’ve got to go, leg or no leg.  I told Mrs. Macy I ’d be at the minister’s at half-past eight to boil ’em all fresh ‘n’ I ain’t got more ’n time to make it easy.  I ’ll be home to get you some dinner.”

“I wish I knew where Ja—­”

Susan stopped in the act of bending for the tray.

“Mrs. Lathrop!—­Mrs. Lathrop! Do you mean to say ’s you don’t know a blessin’ when it ’s throwed right square in your face like yesterday?  Jathrop ’s gone, ‘n’ he can’t never come back, ‘n’ if you had ten legs you ‘d ought to yield the last one o’ ’em up to Heaven without a murmur out o’ sheer gratitude over his bein’ took.  Now you lay still there ‘n’ don’t even think such foolishness, or the Lord may lose his patience like the cow did hers, ‘n’ after feelin’ ‘n’ seein’ ‘n’ hearin’ what a cow c’n do, I shouldn’t feel noways inclined to rouse the Lord ’f I was you.”

So saying, Susan took up her tray and left the room.

* * * * *

The morning was very long to the broken-legged one, who found herself quite unable to sleep under such circumstances.  Her mind did not exactly race about among the startling developments of the past few hours, but it did dwell dubiously upon the more unfortunate phases of past, present, and (possible) future events.

She was glad beyond words when she heard Miss Clegg’s step on the kitchen stoop about noon, and two minutes later Susan was occupying the rocker, and the repast which she had brought with her was beginning to occupy her friend.

“It ‘s jus’ awful ’s you can’t get out,” the visitor said sympathetically; “you’re missin’ things ’s you’ll never have a chance to see again—­not ’f you live ’s high ’s Methusylem.  The whole c’mmunity is in the square or else on the crick road.  They’ve got the minister laid out on the sofa, like he was a president, ‘n’ Polly Allen ’s right there every minute to open the door ‘n’ keep the line amovin’!  Every one wants to see the minister ‘n’ every one wants to see the cow; so some goes for the minister first ‘n’ the cow later, ‘n’ others looks ’t the cow first ‘n’ takes the minister in on the way back.  They all stop one way or the other to look down at Mrs. Jilkins’ clawin’s on the side o’ the ditch, ‘n’ they say the way she dug in the time she finally made it’s almost beyond belief.  The minister says it’s nothin’ but a joy to him to welcome his friends.  He lays there ‘n’ quotes ’All thy waves ‘n’ billows went right over me,’ ‘n’ smiles under his cotton, but Mr. Kimball says ’f he told the truth he’d say ’Jathrop Lathrop’s cow ’s went right over me ’instid.

“I must say ‘s the minister seems to be survivin’ better ’n his wife.  She says she thought ’t the baby was the last straw, ‘n’ now here was a cow ten thousand times worse.  She says bein’ resigned is all right ’f you c’n be alone ‘n’ sit down in peace, but she’d like to know how any one c’d resign themselves to a husband ‘n’ twelve childern all freshly stepped on.  I told her’s the new baby hadn’t been touched, but she seemed beyond payin’ attention to trifles like tellin’ the truth.