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the proof of the puddin’s In the eatin’; and you can’t deny that things have been goin’ from bad to worse ever since your husband died two years back.

—[Wiping tears from her eyes with her handkerchief.] It was God’s will that he should be taken.

—[Triumphantly.] It was God’s punishment on James Mayo for the blasphemin’ and denyin’ of God he done all his sinful life! [ begins to weep softly.] There, Kate, I shouldn’t be remindin’ you, I know. He’s at peace, poor man, and forgiven, let’s pray.

—[Wiping her eyes—simply.] James was a good man.

—[Ignoring this remark.] What I was sayin’ was that since Robert’s been in charge things’ve been goln’ down hill steady. You don’t know how bad they are. Robert don’t let on to you what’s happlnin’; and you’d never see it yourself if ’twas under your nose. But, thank God, Ruth still comes to me once in a while for advice when she’s worried near out of her senses by his goin’s-on. Do you know what she told me last night? But I forgot, she said not to tell you—still I think you’ve got a right to know, and it’s my duty not to let such things go on behind your back.

—[Wearily.] You can tell me if you want to.

—[Bending over toward her—in a low voice.] Ruth was almost crazy about it. Robert told