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time, I can help you both from down there. [Earnestly.] I tell you, Ruth, I’m going to make good right from the minute I land, if working hard and a determination to get on can do it; and I know they can! I’ll have money and lots of it before long, and none of you’ll have to worry about this pesky little farm any more. [Excitedly—in a rather boastful tone.] I tell you, I feel ripe for bigger things than settling down here. The trip did that for me, anyway. It showed me the world in a larger proposition than ever I thought it was in the old days. I couldn’t be content any more stuck here like a fly in molasses. There ain’t enough to do. It all seems trifling, somehow. You ought to be able to understand what I feel.

—[Dully.] Yes—I s’pose I ought.

—I felt sure you’d see; and wait till Rob tells you about

—[A dim suspicion forming in her mind—interrupting him.] What did he tell you—about me?

—Tell? About you? Why, nothing.

—[Staring at him intensely.] Are you telling me the truth, Andy Mayo? Didn’t he say—I [She stops confusedly.]

—[Surprised.] No, he didn’t mention you, I can remember. Why? What made you think he did?

—[Wringing her hands.] Oh, I wish I could tell if you’re lying or not!

—[Indignantly.] What’re you talking