Page:Minnie Flynn (1925).pdf/27

 of hard faithful service he had worked up slowly, from the driver of the wagon to a door-to-door solicitor, and finally, reaching the goal of his ambitions, a position behind the counter, working beside old Hesselman himself, with vague, pleasant prospects of a future partnership. Billy was full of schemes. He already saw Minnie and himself married and settled down in a little flat. He saw the name MacNally instead of Hesselman over the door and on the windows. His contentment made him seem stupid. There was no challenge against the routine of his life to stimulate his imagination. He believed that all blessings were his because he deserved them. To live simply, to want little, to love normally, to go to church on Sundays, and to be scrupulously honest with his customers (not even permitting himself the pleasure of giving more meat to the pound when Minnie was buying); these were the divine laws by which Billy MacNally lived.

Why Minnie, with so many admirers, chose Billy she could never understand. He wasn't even a good dancer. She might have tired of him quickly had it not been for Nettie's vicious ridicule of him.

Again Nettie's guttural voice broke into unexpected laughter. "Billy MacNally!" she drawled out. "Minnie's little butcher boy. As if the old check coat ain't good enough for him!"

Minnie sprang to her feet. She swayed, her nails pressing into the palms of her hands. She stared at Nettie with an ominous calm, then fearing to speak, rushed out of the room into the kitchen where her mother was stooping over the stove.

"Ma," she said between her clenched teeth, "Nettie gets my goat! I'm goin' to stay in the kitchen to keep out of her way. There are times when I can hardly stand her."

Mrs. Flynn clicked her tongue and wagged her head. Then