That Girl of Johnson's — page 103: what you’re looking at

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

iy a THAT GIRL OF JOHNSON'S. her eyes raised to the kindly face above her, “I would not leave my father—ever—while he lives—not for any one.” CHAPTER XX. AROUND THE TAVERN FIRE. “Who'd a-thought,” said Jones, meditatively, tipping his chair back and stretching his feet pretty well toward the smoky mantel. ‘‘Who’d a-thought thet big Johnsing wi’ sinews like oak ’d ever a kem ter thes?” It was more the statement of a fact than a question; he said it to free his mind and start the ball of conversation rolling. That every one thought as he did on this sujbect was a matter of course. He looked around on them ap- provingly as though to impress them with the fact that he was with them there. They might disagree a trifle now and then about some things, but in the vital matter just come up for consideration, he was with them heartily, and would encourage them with his approval. He expected no immediate remark in answer to his, and expectorated thoughtfully with perfect deliberation after nodding his grizzly head with the weight of his approval upon it. His wife and daughter were in the back room, and the occasional sound of their voices disturbed the roar of the storm and the sobbing of the pines outside. His wife and daughter never came in the outer room of an evening; he was wise and diplomatic in that; he knew it and prided himself on having more tact than his guests generally, though Jones was not a selfish or bad man at heart.. He expectorated again more thoughtfully, and watched the smoke from the pipes of his comrades curl round and round in rings up toward the smoky, low ceiling. He was comfortable and complacent; he had had his say and broken the ice for the others; he would now hear them with the calm majesty a monarch might feel in his council chamber. When Lodie spoke he started, a trifle sur- comicbooks.co mM