"Mr. Kellogg!"
"Make it 'Billy.'"
She shook her head.
"'Sam,' then."
She remained silent.
"I suppose I ought to apologize for a lot of it," he muttered. "But somehow I can't. You know as a matter of fact you deserved most of it."
Rosalind sat very straight on the nail-keg.
"Yes; you did. You were so all-fired scornful of everybody and everything—particularly me. You rubbed it in. You just carved me into slivers every time you spoke—and I guess you thought I wasn't even good enough to furnish slivers.
"I'll admit I'm not much use in the world; I'm about as useless as the first six rows in a movie house. But that wasn't any reason for climbing me every time I did something or said something. So far as usefulness goes I'll stack up with Reggy, anyhow.
"Wait a minute now. I'm not going to hurt your feelings. That was just a preface. Here's the rest of it: All the time you were carving me and climbing me I was strong for you. That's Gospel. I just had to be. You bullyragged me into loving you.