"A thought so maself till A found A wasn't," he answered. "No man knows what's in him till he's tried—that's ma notion of it. Then he'll have a good few surprises, same as A've done. A man's a very funny thing when he's along of a woman he loves—that's ma experience."
Ruth trembled, and her hand swept to and fro with the graceful motions of a circling eagle over the child's frock she was ironing.
"You make me feel real mean," she said.
He kept a sturdy back to her.
"Then A make you feel just same gate as A feel maself."
There was a pause.
"You ought to marry, Joe—a man like you with all that nature in you."
"Never—only if so be A can get the woman A want."
She said with a gulp,
"And I thart you was Ern's friend!"