The girl begins to speak. The older woman edges closer again to catch what the low voice says.
"We went ridin' with a couple fellas."
"Did you know them? Were they boys you knew?"
"No."
"How did you happen to go riding with them, Jennie?"
"We was walkin'——"
"We?"
"Me an' my girl friend. We was walkin'. These fellas was driving 'round slow. We seen 'em. An' they come up to the curb where we was passin' by an' asked us would we like to take a ride. Well, we didn't have nothin' else to do so——"
I-sez-to-him and he-sez-to-me. The drive. Terror. A fight in the car, the sturdy girls defending themselves fiercely. Home safe but so late that the usual tirade became abuse. They had said things at home ... well ... she'd show'm. She'd run away. She had taken the hundred to spite him—Otto.
"Why did you go, Jennie? You knew, didn't you?"