"Perhaps."
But in another part of the room, a different conversation was going on.
"I tell ye," said Jessie Roth, who was talking to Bobbie Burns, "schoolma'am kens an awfu' lot."
"How dae ye ken?" he asked with an air of scorn, "ye dinna ken muckle yirsel'."
"Ye jist shut up, Bob Burns," she replied testily. "I may not ken muckle, neither do ye. Ye has no manners. I tell ye I want ter learn. I'm a mind ter quit the range an' go ter school."
"What's the matter, Jessie?" asked the teacher, coming up at this moment, and slipping her arm about the girl's waist. "I believe Bob has been teasing you. Make up, children;" and smiling kindly, and with a reassuring grasp of Jessie's hand, she passed on.
"What'd I tell ye?" asked the girl.
"Oh, she's only a woman. Anyway, she don't care much for you lasses, or she'd had a club for girls."
This was more than Jessie could stand.
"A woman, did ye say? A woman?" Jessie's eyes flashed with anger. "An' wasna' y'r mither a woman, Bob Burns?"