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scornfully.] Shucks! I’m losin’ my respect for your eyesight, Katey. Why, Robert ain’t got no time for Ruth, ’cept as a friend!

—[Warningly.] Sss-h-h! [The door from the yard opens, and ''enters. He is smiling happily, and humming a song to himself, but as he comes into the room an undercurrent of nervous uneasiness manifests itself in his bearing''.]

—So here you be at last! [ comes forward and sits on Andy’s chair. smiles slyly at his wife.] What have you been doin’ all this time—countin’ the stars to see if they all come out right and proper?

—There’s only one I’ll ever look for any more, Pa.

—[Reproachfully.] You might’ve even not wasted time lookin’ for that one—your last night.

—[As if she were speaking to a child.] You ought to have worn your coat a sharp night like this, Robbie.

—I wasn’t cold. Ma. It’s beautiful and warm on the road.

—[Disgustedly.] God A’mighty, Kate, you treat Robert as if he was one year old!

—[With a smile.] I’m used to that. Uncle.

—[With joking severity.] You’ll learn to forget all that baby coddlin’ nights down off the Horn when you’re haulin’ hell-bent on the braces with a green sea up to your neck, and the old hooker doin’