'He ain't studyin' 'bout'n me, no more 'n I be 'bout'n him,' she said, with scant relish for the spectacle of Rick Tyler's jealousy. 'Pa'son Kelsey jes' stops thar ter the house ter rest his bones awhile, arter he comes down off'n the bald, whar he goes ter pray.'
'In the name o' reason,' exclaimed the young fellow petulantly, 'why can't he pray somewhar else? A man ez hev got ter h'ist hisself on the bald of a mounting ten mile high—except what's lackin'—ter git a purchase on prayer hain't got no religion wuth talkin' 'bout. Sinner ez I am, I kin pray in the valley—way down yander in Tuckaleechee Cove—ez peart ez on enny bald in the Big Smoky. That critter air a powerful aggervatin' contrivance.'
Her eyes still shone upon him.
''Pears like ter me ez it air no differ, nohow,' she said, with her consolatory cadence. As she again started down the row, she added, glancing over her shoulder and relenting even to explanation, ''Twar granny's word ez Mirandy Jane hed ter be l'arned ter cook an' sech. She air risin' thirteen now, an' air toler'ble bouncin' an' spry, an' oughter be some use, ef ever. An' she mought marry when she gits fairly grown, an',' pausing in the turn-row for argument, and looking with earnest eyes at him, as he still stood in the midst of the waving corn, idly holding his plough-handles, where the pistols swung, 'ef she did marry, 'pears like ter me ez she would be mightily faulted ef she couldn't cook tasty.'
There was no reasonable doubt of this proposition, but it failed to convince, and in miserable cogitation he completed another furrow, and met her at the turn-row.
'I s'pose ez Pa'son Kelsey an' yer granny air powerful sociable an' frien'ly,' he hazarded, as they stood together.
'I dunno ez them two air partic'lar frien'ly. Pa'son Kelsey air in nowise a sociable critter,' said Dorinda, with a discriminating air. 'He ain't like Brother Jake Tobin—though it 'pears like ter me ez his gift in prayer air manifested more survigrus, ef ennything.' She submitted this diffidently. Having no religion, she felt incompetent to judge of such matters. ''Pears like ter me ez Pa'son Kelsey air more like 'Lijah an' 'Lisha, an' them men, what he talks about cornsider'ble, an' goes out ter meet on the bald.'
'He don't meet them men on the bald; they air dead,' said Rick Tyler abruptly.
She looked at him in shocked surprise.
'That's jes' his addling way o' talkin',' continued the young fellow. 'He don't mean fur true more 'n haffen what he say. He 'lows ez he meets the sperits o' them men on the bald.'