“Oh! Ed didn't say much,” said Lide, giving way to long-drawn sighs; a fashion of dead swell following the storm of sobs. “He said he'd marry me whether father was willing or not. Then he drove away.”
Aunt Ann smiled.
“I guess Ed Church is pretty high strung,” said Aunt Ann, “but that won't hurt him any.”
Jim Lee came in at that moment, looking a bit sheepish and guilty; but over it all an atmosphere of victory.
“That Church boy will stay away now, I guess!” said Jim Lee, as he got the bootjack and began pulling off his boots.
“Jim Lee, you're an awful fool!” observed Aunt Ann with the air of a sibyl settling all things. “You're the biggest numbskull in Stowe Township!”
“Why?” asked Jim Lee.
He was disturbed because Aunt Ann addressed him by his full name. Experience had taught him that defeat ever followed hard on the heels of his full name, when Aunt Ann made use of it.
“Never mind why!” said Aunt Ann.
And not another word could Jim Lee get from her.