“Now don’t be afraid that I will blow. What put such a notion into your head?”
“Well, I don’t know but you’d be doing the right thing if you did.”
“Why?”
“Oh, because it might not be right for any man to hitch up with a girl like me. If Havener knew——”
“Do you think he’d go back on you?”
“Can’t tell. His other wife drank like a fish, and he quit her. That ain’t so bad as what I do.”
“But you, Cassie—how in the world did you ever contract such a habit?”
“Got it in the hospital.”
“Oh, that is how?”
“Yes,” she faltered, as if she found it difficult to choose her words. “You know—I—was hurt. I went to the hospital. They had to inject morphine to keep down the pain. When I came out I kept on using it once in a while. After a time I used it oftener, and now——”