That Girl of Johnson's — page 174: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THAT GIRL OF FOLNSON' Sef" 168 ee —_ : = — the living. To lie j in that hole of a room day in, day out, was growing unbearable; nothing to do but watch the bit of sky and mountain {i ncneh the tiny window, the scent of the pines stealing through, or, closing his eyes, to think, think, think his narrow thoughts that never got away from the mountains, the smithy, the tavern, and the town, until he was driven nearly wild by the thoughts that no one else ever knew, though those who were with him most guessed near the truth. The thin face, grown pallid with confinement, would narrow and seem to contract, the small eyes, set deep and close together, grew cruel and cunning, the coarse mouth under the scant mustache, closed with sinister meaning. For hours he would lie in the same position, scarcely mov- ing, his long hands grown bony, clutching convulsively the bed covering. And to those who watched with eyes sharpened with interest all these actions were full of mean- ing, and proved much that had but been guessed before. As time went by the men at the tavern got over their stiffness and dropped in occasionally through the days, one or another, to have a chat with Johnson, but mainly to see how he bore his affliction and to know for themselevs how much better off that girl of Johnson’s was, since her father’s brother Lemuel—he who left the settlement years before—had returned. They said, after going, that it was more than she deserved, such a shiftless, no-’count creature, like tho rest ef the family, except Lemuel, and so many of their girls were more deserving than she. And keeping watchful eyes on her, about the house and yard, or with Dora and young Green, they grew to dislike her more and more, because if possible she was more silent and disdainful of them than before, and was growing out of the life of the settlement where she had been born and where she should remain if she were true to her surround ings. Even the nurse was more willing than the girl to talk with them if they wished for information, though she, too,. held a certain distance from them, as she could not fail to Eomicboo Ss) (e(e) m