“They won’t hurt Shanty. There’s a bunch of us will see to that.”

“I’m afraid Isaac didn’t realize the trouble he might be stirrin’ up.”

Or maybe he did, Rusty thought. York was a bitter man who had little liking for his neighbors.

Webb started to mount his horse but paused. “Clemmie says you didn’t know about Geneva bein’ married.”

Rusty looked away. “No, I didn’t.”

“I wrote you. I guess you never got the letter.”

“We seldom got much mail.”

“Are you goin’ to be all right with it?”

“I have to be, don’t I?”

“You’re still young, and there’s lots of nice young women out there. You’ll find one.”

“I don’t know that I’ll be lookin’.”

“Then maybe she’ll find you’’

Clemmie was still standing on the dog run when Rusty returned to the cabin. Her worried eyes were fixed on Webb, riding away toward the east. She said, “He looks awful tired. He should think of himself for a change.”

“I don’t believe he knows how.”

“He ought to quit travelin’ so much. He needs somebody to take care of him.”

Like you, for instance? Rusty resisted speaking the thought aloud.

She said, “I’m afraid he’ll die all alone out on some trail with nothin’ but his horse and his Bible.”

“He’s a man of the cloth. He’d consider it a fittin’ way to go.”

Her mouth tight, Clemmie retreated into the kitchen. Rusty considered following after her but could not think of anything helpful he might say.

Vince Purdy and Oscar Pickett came in from the field, Vince riding the plow mule, Pickett carrying a hoe over his thin shoulder. Rusty walked out to meet them. He unsaddled his own horse, then helped remove the harness from the mule. Purdy said, “Preacher left here in a hurry, seems like.”

Rusty explained. Purdy looked with concern toward the cabin. “Clemmie figured on him stayin’ a day or two.”

“He’ll be back.”

“But then he’ll be gone again. She sets a lot of store by him.”

“It appears that way to me.”

“It ain’t like she’s forgot about Lon and Billy. She never will. But there comes a time when folks have got to pick up and move on, live for the livin’ and not for them that’s gone. What is it the Bible says? Don’t look for me in the graveyard because I’ve gone on to a better place?”