The doctor was too busy looking at his corn-bread to answer this remark even by a look.
"But I think these oversmart young men'll bear looking arter, I do."
Dr. Small raised his eyes and let them shine an assent. That was all.
"Shouldn't wonder ef our master was overly fond of gals."
Doctor looks down at his plate.
"Had plenty of sweethearts afore he walked home with Hanner Thomson t'other night, I'll bet."
Did Dr. Small shrug his shoulder? Granny thought she detected a faint motion of the sort, but she could not be sure.
"And I think as how that a feller what trifles with gals' hearts and then runs off ten miles, maybe a'n't no better'n he had orter be. That's what I says, says I."
To this general remark Dr. Small assented in his invisible—shall I say intangible?—way.
"I allers think, maybe, that some folks has found it best to leave home and go away. You can't never tell. But when people is a-bein' robbed it's well to lookout. Hey?"