CHAPTER XV

“As you come through the village, if it ain’t too much trouble, I wish you’d get some chloroform, M’s. Jim. M’s. Trafford told me before she left that if I didn’t put the old cat, she’s this one’s mother, to sleep before she came back she’d have Phin Snow do it. I wouldn’t trust that old woman-hater to drown even a female rat. I’ve fed and loved that animal for ten years and it seems as though ’twould break my heart to put her out of the way.” Julie slipped the proffered money into the pocket of her violet sweater.…