That Girl of Johnson's — page 84: what you’re looking at

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

THAT GIRL OF JOHNSON’S, 73 CHAPTER XVI. LIFE’S MONOTONY. Dolores stood listlessly at one of the kitchen windows: she was looking out at the storm, but she did not see it; her ears were strained to catch the sound of voices in her father’s room. Earnest voices they were and full of a meaning she could not catch. Outside the storm was raging; they had felt some of its power ere reaching home, but now it was howling with the power only a mountain storm possesses. The opposite mountain was shrouded in mist; even the peak that gener- ally lifted its somber head was swallowed. up, and the ghostly gray was creeping around the scattered houses of the settlement. The rain was falling in torrents; it swept from the east across the valley, and swirled around the houses like a demon of fury. The wind drove it fiercely, lashing it hither and yon, shrieking and howling and moaning; the pines on the heights above writhed and twisted their heavy boughs, driven by the demon wind. No need to water the gardens now nor use the neighbors’ wells; water was plenty; it was pouring from the sky as though it had overflowed ; it was streaming down the door- posts and drenching the window-panes; it formed little gullies in the road and rushed pell-mell down to the valley river. The road was deserted; the men had straggled up to Johnson’s house when first he was brought home, but as soon as the messenger sent by Green brought the doctors from the town they ordered perfect quiet, and the men. were sent away without being allowed to enter. Dolores met them at the door, and their dislike of her overcame their curiosity; they turned away in silence and went down the road to the tavern with its welcome fire, its cider, comicbooks (E(0) mn