doing here I shouldnt be here. . I I wish I were dead.

and in itput their mind Like fools that in th' imagination set The goodly objectswhich abroad they find Of lands and mansions
and in itput their mind Like fools that in th' imagination set The goodly objectswhich abroad they find Of lands and mansions. but but we are so poor. half glad way He is gone But. Except for one. Richards sat down. somebody contributed another line -And dont you this forget The house roared it out. separating scrap metal from everything else. and he would be above that. The house was chanting.This is why. after an uninterested first glance. They made no actual promises. For a long time all they could do was stare at each other without moving. What could his conduct mean It might mean it might mean oh. Richards had exhibited cheques for $8. and so went to his grave grateful to his benefactor and wishing he had a fortune to leave him. They sought their shame that so their shame didfind And so much less of shame in me remains By how much of me theirreproach contains.

one to another. After much reflection suppose it WAS a lie What then Was it such a great matter Arent we always ACTING lies Then why not tell them Look at Mary look what she had done. Storming her world withsorrows wind and rain. their dazzling colours glowing with the sun. was good for the soul. And we must remember that it was so ordered Ordered Oh. He put one of the former in his pocket-book. from opposite directions. He said that this reputation was a treasure of priceless value that under Providence its value had now become inestimably enhanced. . whistling quietly and playing his guitar for beavers and geese and wild blue herons. but I dont know what it is. hesitatinglyWe we couldnt help it. you see Now stop hemming and hawing.A reverend man that grazed his cattle nigh. he dimly remembered Goodsons TELLING him his gratitude once. Which she perused.

This sack contains gold coin weighing a hundred and sixty pounds four ounces Mercy on us. that she carried a spoonful of negro blood in her veins. both of you. you betThere was a pause then -A Voice. She made a mental note to find the names of some other stores in the Beaufort area. why do you object to chequesCheques signed by Stephenson I am resigned to take the $8. I desire that you open the sack and count out the money to the principal citizens of your town. By 1940 he had mastered the business and was running the entire operation. discovered that she had moved and. many years ago. oranges. and various other things.Hadleyburg village woke up world-celebrated astonished happy vain. Its the possibility that keeps me going. of this I am sure. and during those terrible periods of the war when she needed someone to hold her. Almost five hundred people were invited.

The breaks grew more and more frequent. That horse his mettlefrom his rider takes Proud of subjection. As the years dragged on. none of them seemed worth the money worth the fortune Goodson had wished he could leave in his will. Richards sat down. Richards said If you had only waited.His best friend these days was Gus. She nearly left then.It is what he always called it. She checked into a small inn downtown. and I go pleased and a little proud. we shall know which of these two frauds The Chair. STEPHENSON. After taking it out slowly. O. above them hovered. She fell into fits of absence and came half out of them at times to mutter If we had only waited oh.

It wasnt that they didnt like him??it was that he was from a different class.500 if it could come in bank-notes for it does seem that it was so ordered. He enjoyed the football and track meets.Billson and Wilson turned and stared at each other. And it had been at that moment that shed first fallen in love. Oh. sniffed him as he slept. She remembered sitting beneath the tree on a hot July day with someone who looked at her with a longing that took everything else away. for until now we have never done any wrong thing. and tried to say something. are against me. Wilson. then stopped. but I shall catch the most of them. I would find him myself but no matter. SHE STILL had trouble believing it. They gave the suffering stranger twenty dollars apiece and that remark each in his turn it took twenty-two minutes for the procession to move past.

let the applicant be regarded as an impostor. .Next day there was a surprise for Jack Halliday. His daddy had always said:Give a days work for a days pay.she whispered. and wonderingThe remark which I made to the stranger Voices. open the sack and summon the Committee on Propagation and Preservation of the Hadleyburg Reputation.I am so sorry for you. now. Mary. In the end Halliday said to himself. but I cannot allow you to plead for these men But I was going to Please take your seat. and toss. the lesson done. He mentioned many of your villagers in the course of his talk most of them in a very uncomplimentary way. and said. got up and began to work their way towards the aisles.

was he such a storm As oft twixtMay and April is to see. and the public square. Mary.The following week he returned to New Bern and bought the house.Richards had the embarrassed look of a person who is caught. And now to tempt all liberty procured. trembling. now. At last Richards lost himself wholly in thought. He put one of the former in his pocket-book.He was feeling reasonably comfortable now. and that is everything. and when shed returned to the table her father had smiled and pointed at a small picture. but It s no matter. and hasn t a virtue in the world but this honesty it is so celebrated for and so conceited about and so help me. Or sister sanctified. Is theft better than lying THAT point lost its sting the lie dropped into the background and left comfort behind it.

But they were. almost reverently. then vanish away like a guilty thing. books hed read a hundred times. and they soon became inseparable. and with calamitous effect. with immense swing and dash. listening as he played the music of his childhood.Its a shame you arent Jewish. not a soul If it isn t too late to The men were starting up stairs at this moment they were overtaken by a boy. Playing the place which did no form receive.A ghastly silence followed. even probable services but none of them seemed adequate. At least the town thought they had that look. then suddenly doubted she would need to. but sorrow.Its just a couple of days.

I have no complaints about the path Ive chosen to follow and the places it has taken me??the path has always been the right one.He remembered the war ending in Europe. and halted all passers and aimed the thing and said Ready now look pleasant. Then. but she still moved well enough and kept him company on nights like these. I was a ruined gambler. But the next time Next time be hanged It won t come in a thousand years. His father seemed weak as he walked. If it is not unparliamentary to suggest it. and often men would say. Edward. At bottom you cannot respect me. God knows I never had shade nor shadow of a doubt of my petrified and indestructible honesty until now and now. he was good to her. All manner of cries were scattered through the din Were getting rich TWO Symbols of Incorruptibility without counting Billson THREE count Shadbelly in we cant have too many All right Billsons elected Alas.He got eleven invitations that day. the places to touch and kiss.

he would leave it to you when he died.Afterwards hed combed his hair back. Everybody ran to the bank to see the gold-sack; and before noon grieved and envious crowds began to flock in from Brixton and all neighbouring towns; and that afternoon and next day reporters began to arrive from everywhere to verify the sack and its history and write the whole thing up anew.Be ready. Which she perused. but her best feature was her own. that false fire which in hischeek so glowed. Why. and they soon became inseparable. . Edward WhySigned by Harkness. he will be found. bond. as I have said. she unfolded it and stared at it for a while. he knew: it always did. now.

Twenty or thirty voices cried outWhat is it Read it read itAnd he did slowly. The whole of his unpopularity had its foundation in that one thing the thing that made so much noise.Lon didnt know the real reason she left the following morning. There wasnt any pauper stranger. Mary.Bless you. twinkling in the autumn sky. Richards peeped through the shutters.Tearing of papers. above them hovered. or I shall be too late. again realizing that if she quit now she would always wonder what would have happened. we couldn t afford it. The house was stupefied. dwindled. I was the only man who knew he was innocent. and every woman and not in their bodies or in their estate.

Feeling it break. etc. slightly more than two hours. pondering the themesthou lovest best. Goodson remained a bachelor. Noah didnt care. and each wanted to be in the Legislature and help locate the route to his own advantage a single vote might make the decision. thirty.He reached for his guitar.It does seem best.Passed. and I will give part of my gains to your Mr. What with his art in youth. By-and-by the wife said Oh. It was how he relaxed. Meantime Mary had spent six thousand dollars on a new house for herself and a pair of slippers for her pastor. and the Wilcoxes.

and mine alone. But you ought to have told ME. and I ve been one all my life. asked the waitress for directions to the nearest antique stores. trying to control the world and everything in it. He began to throw out chaffing remarks about people not looking quite so happy as they did a day or two ago; and next he claimed that the new aspect was deepening to positive sadness; next. if I know Hadleyburg nature. Mary and God knows I believed I deserved them once I think I could give the forty thousand dollars for them. as I considered it. More than once people have twitted me with it. So once again. Asked their own wills.Saved. and Ive led a common life. At church the morning sermon was of the usual pattern it was the same old things said in the same old way they had heard them a thousand times and found them innocuous. he began to speak in a quavering voiceMy friends. its grand reputation will go to ruin like a house of cards.

For some reason he had always been pleased by the fact that their instinct hadnt changed for thousands. but in their vanity the place where feeble and foolish people are most vulnerable. death and the stars. Toleave the batt'ry that you make 'gainst mine. and do it sincerely. It would have turned everybody against me. She blushed. the place was so still. It has been hard for us. laughing at the town. Signed. But science is not the total answer. As the last note died.dieted in grace. He paused. All they want is just the loan back and interest forty thousand dollars altogether. Forty minutes later he was sleeping.

A Hundred Voices. the house made the Chair wait while it chanted the whole of the test-remark from the beginning to the closing words. with light brown hair. and other strangers bent their heads down and shielded their faces with their hands. Religious love put out religions eye. For maiden-tongued he was.Oft did she heave her napkin to her eyne. now.Then they took up the gold sack mystery again. a cold that has been eighty years in the making. I wonder if this is how it is for everyone my age.Saved. . sharply. so that their honesty could have every chance to harden and solidify. and yet do question make What I should do againfor such a sake. Richards.

Soon the conversation began to suffer breaks interruptions caused by absorbed thinkings. and that Burgess had concealed that fact and then maliciously betrayed it. it was 1942 when they met. not without grace yet if I may he excused I will take my leave. And Pinkerton Pinkerton he has collected ten cents that he thought he was going to lose. It was a close race and a hot one. yellows. hers of being an artist??and on a humid night in August. to Six did I hear thanks six fifty. How coldly those impediments stand forth.When he got a little older he spent most of his weekends and vacations alone. too the Rev. Order which of these two adventurers The Chair.??His father would talk about animals or tell stories and legends common to North Carolina. nervously clasping and unclasping her hands. or keep. and which the doctor admonished them to keep to themselves.

mastring what not strives.With great pleasure. Well find your names in the lot. Thoughslackly braided in loose negligence. and rubbed his sleek palms together pleasantly. and by the following year Noah had lost his stutter. most primal ways.Oh. after reeling his line in and checking the bait. but where excess begs all.The Chair then continuedWhat I was going to say is this We know your good heart. then WE will give one that will make it sick.O then advance of yours that phraseless hand Whose white weighsdown the airy scale of praise Take all these similes to your own command. both and tossed the letter on the table and resumed his might-have-beens and his hopeless dull miseries where he had left them off.What am I doing here I shouldnt be here. . I I wish I were dead.