"Um!... G'-by, Pliny. Ever deal in facts over there to the post office? Ever have occasion to mention facts?"
"Er—not reg'lar facts, Scattergood. You needn't to worry about my talkin' too free."
"Seems like a feller that talks as much as you do would have to mention a fact once in a while. G'-by, Pliny."
It was two or three days later that Postmaster Pratt alluded again to Martha and Jed Lewis.
"They're gittin' wuss and wuss," he said, with some gratification. "Last night they was a rumpus you could 'a' heard forty mile. Ended up by him threatenin' to leave her, and by her tellin' him that if he didn't she'd lock him out of the house. Looks to me like that family fracas was about ripe to bust."
"Signs all p'int that way, Will. Too bad, hain't it? There's a reason f'r it, I calculate. Ever look f'r the reason, Will? Ever think about it at all?"
"Hain't had no time. Post office keeps me thinkin' night and day."
"Well, I have. Figgered a heap."
"Any results, Scattergood?"
"Some—some."