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 "Ma'am, I don't feel any mortification for the part I took in Miss McCoy's innocent trip to the hay-meadow after flowers, ma'am. I don't feel anything but resentment for the narrow view these pore, ornery people have taken, ma'am, for she could walk by my side for a thousand years and never have cause to blush or turn her face away."

"A Tittle thought beforehand would have been much better than a great deal of declamation afterwards, Mr. Hartwell. You are a disgraced man in this community, sir; you are charged with the betrayal of a sacred trust, and you have not refuted it."

"I'll do it, ma'am, to the satisfaction of everybody. I came here to-night to tell you-all about something that I've found out, ma'am."

"Your private affairs are of no interest to my daughter or to me, sir."

"Since I have been the cause of so much distress—"

"The kindest thing you can do, sir, will be to leave Cottonwood at once, and carry your unfortunate taint with you."

"I can't leave under a taint, Mrs. McCoy. I have matters to adjust here when a certain man returns."

Texas spoke so earnestly, his face was so stern,