Page:Caroline Lockhart--The Fighting Shepherdess.djvu/292

 " Certainly, Clarence. Is there anything in par- ticular?"

" If it ain't too much trouble, I'd like, ' Oh, Think of the Home Over There.' "

" I'm delighted that your mind sometimes turns in that direction. I've sometimes feared, Clarence, that you were not religious."

Mr. Teeters looked pained at the suggestion.

" I don't talk about religion much," he replied earnestly, " but there's somethin' come up the last few days that set me thinkin' pretty serious."

Mrs. Taylor looked her curiosity.

" It's a turrible thing," Teeters wagged his head solemnly, " to see a feller layin' on his death-bed denyin' they's a Hereafter."

" Why, how dreadful I Who is it? "

" A sheepherder. He says they ain't no hell -. — nor nothin'."

" The po-oo-or soul I Is there any way I could talk to him?"

" I was hopin' you'd say that, but I didn't like to ask you, seein' as he's a sheepherder."

" They're human beings, Clarence," reproved Mrs. Taylor.

" I've heerd that questioned," declared Teeters, " but anyhow, a person with a heart in him no bigger than a bullet would have to be sorry to see this feller goin' to his everlasting punishment without repentin'. He's done murder."

" Murder! "

" I'll tell you about it to-morrow on the way over,"

" Where is he?"

"At Kate Prentice's — at headquarters."

Mrs. Taylor stiffened.