"What's he mean?" asked Joe.
Ruth regarded him with wary curiosity.
"Didn't Ern never tell you then?" she asked.
"Never!" said Joe.
Ruth was thoughtful. That was nice of Ern—like Ern—the gentleman in him coming out.
That night she softened to him. He noticed it in a flash and approached her—only to be repulsed abruptly.
"No," she said. "I don't care about you no more. You've lost me. That's where it is."
"O, I beg pardon," answered Ernie, quivering. "I thart we was married."
"So we was one time o day, I believe," Ruth answered. "And might be again yet. Who knaws?"
He stood over her as she composed herself for the night on the settle.