work was over. His sociability was stronger
than his acquisitive instinct. He liked to live
day by day and night by night, sharing in the
excitement of the crowd. -- Yet his wife had
managed to hold him here on a farm, in one
of the loneliest countries in the world.

I could see the little chap, sitting here every
evening by the windmill, nursing his pipe and
listening to the silence; the wheeze of the
pump, the grunting of the pigs, an occasional
squawking when the hens were disturbed by
a rat. It did rather seem to me that Cuzak
had been made the instrument of Antonia's
special mission. This was a fine life, certainly,
but it wasn't the kind of life he had wanted
to live. I wondered whether the life that was
right for one was ever right for two!

I asked Cuzak if he didn't find it hard to do
without the gay company he had always been
used to. He knocked out his pipe against an
upright, sighed, and dropped it into his pocket.

"At first I near go crazy with lonesomeness,"
he said frankly, "but my woman is got such
a warm heart. She always make it as good
for me as she could. Now it ain't so bad; I can
begin to have some fun with my boys, al-
ready!"

[[413]]

p412 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p413w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p414

v?