16
THE BATTALION.
hoped to inherit from him. Still others said that they
had come simply because Goodrum had recommended the
climate.
If this last conjecture were true, the recommendation
must have been made through his danghter, for the old
man could neither read nor write. He knew figures and
sold his books—they were mainly text-books—by the marks
his daughter put on them for him. He transacted all busi
ness that required the use of pen, ink and paper through
her. He was in the, habit of lending out money at inter
est, but he kept no accounts of these business matters nor
of his daily trade, trusting wholly to his memory which
was a remarkably good one.
His habits and his companions were coarse and low.
He lived like a miser, often dining only when his daug’hter
or one of his wife’s sisters sent him a covered dish. Other
wise a little cheese and a half dozen crackers washed down
with beer sufficed him.
He had quarreled with his brother-in-law, Sanders
Mitchell, and with one of the sisters about a month before
the period I have mentioned; and his sole friendly intercourse
was with his daughter and her aunt JVlelinda, who visited
him with some regularity. His temper was bad, and there
were a number of people in the town not on speaking terms
with him, among them his daughter’s husband, Parker
Brown. He had been living alone since his daughter’s
marriage, but she had lately persuaded him to hire a
negro girl to cook for him and to clean up his room.
On the night of the third of July, Goodrum went to
the restaurant where he usually g'ot his beer, wearing a