"'Twas worse than that." She did not answer his look, but kept her eyes fixed ahead.
"Yet here I find the man keepin' shop for Rogers: and as for you—if you're his daughter—"
"I'm in service with Mr Rogers," said Fancy, who as if in a moment had recovered her composure. "If you want to know why, sir, and won't chat about it, I don't mind tellin' you."
"You make me curious, little maid: that I'll own."
"'Tis simple enough, too," said she. "He's had a stroke, an' he's goin to hell."
"Eh? . . . I don't see—"
"He's goin' to hell," she repeated with a nod as over a matter that admitted no dispute.
"Well, but dang it all!" protested Captain Cai after a pause, "we'll allow as he's goin' there, for the sake of argyment. Is that why you're tendin' on him so careful?"
"You mustn't think," answered the child, "that I'm doin' it out o' pity altogether. There's something terrible fascinatin' about a man in that position."