"
"Small good it would do you," said Mr. Barly. "Life is a heavy cross,
having or not having, what with other people doing as they please."
And taking leave of Mr. Tomkins, he went home, thinking that in a world
where people robbed their neighbors, it were better not to possess
anything.
As he passed the potato patch, he heard Abner singing, without much
tune to his voice, a song he had learned in the army. "Ay," muttered
Mr. Barly, "go on--sing. You've learned that much, anyway. I may as
well sing, myself, for all the good I've ever had attending to my
business. I'll sing a good one; then I'll be right along with
everybody, and let come what may."
Anna, too, heard Abner singing, as she knelt in front of the basket
where the mother cat lay with her four blind kittens. "You see,
Tabby," she said, "people still sing. A lot of them learned to sing in
the war, and now they're home, they may as well sing as cry. Oh,
Tabby, I wanted to sing, too . . . now look at me.
"I went out so grand," she said. "I was going to find all sorts of
things.
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