My cousin rose to
greet him; and presently I took my leave without having been able to get
back upon the subject of Beasley.
Thus, once more baffled, I returned to Mrs. Apperthwaite's--and within
the hour came into full possession of the very heart of that dark and
subtle mystery which overhung the house next door and so perplexed my
soul.
IV
Finding that I had still some leisure before me, I got a book from my
room and repaired to the bench in the garden. But I did not read; I had
but opened the book when my attention was arrested by sounds from the
other side of the high fence--low and tremulous croonings of distinctly
African derivation:
"Ah met mah sistuh in a-mawnin',
She 'uz a-waggin' up de hill SO slow!
'Sistuh, you mus' git a rastle in doo time,
B'fo de hevumly do's cloze--iz!'"
It was the voice of an aged negro; and the simultaneous slight creaking
of a small hub and axle seemed to indicate that he was pushing or
pulling a child's wagon or perambulator up and down the walk from the
kitchen door to the stable. Whiles, he proffered soothing music: over
and over he repeated the chant, though with variations; encountering in
turn his brother, his daughter, each of his parents, his uncle, his
cousin, and his second-cousin, one after the other ascending the same
slope with the same perilous leisure.
"Lay still, honey." He interrupted his injunctions to the second-cousin.
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