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 She's a good teacher, but she's awful stuck on herself."

"You don't tell me!"

"Yes, and since Stott turned over that money to 'em yesterday she'll be so stuck-up you can't touch her with a ten-foot pole. You heard about what Stott did—done—didn't you?"

"I just got rumors of it, ma'am."

"Well, some people think they're no better than he is, takin' money from him that he stole from somebody else, no matter if it was comin' to them, as some say it was."

"Would you please hand me a glass of water, ma'am?"

Texas made the request with such distant formality, such absolute dismissal of the subject to which she was warming with true scandalous scent, that Viney turned to look back at him as she sped on his request.

When she returned she stood off a little way, dropping her locket down the V-collar of her waist and pulling it up again, as if she sounded the shallows of her bony bosom to find her heart.

"Was there anything else you wished?" she asked.

"Nothing at all, thank you kindly, ma'am."

She turned at the door to look at him again.