SCOTT. (nodding his head approvingly) A sweet, wholesome couple they’d make.
MAYO. It’d be a good thing for Andy in more ways than one. I ain’t what you’d call calculatin’ generally, and I b’lieve in lettin’ young folks run their affairs to suit themselves; but there’s advantages for both o’ them in this match you can’t overlook in reason. The Atkins farm is right next to ourn. Jined together they’d make a jim-dandy of a place, with plenty o’ room to work in. And bein’ a widder with only a daughter, and laid up all the time to boot, Mrs. Atkins can’t do nothin’ with the place as it ought to be done. She needs a man, a first-class farmer, to take hold o’ things; and Andy’s just the one.
MRS. MAYO. (abruptly) I don’t think Ruth loves Andy.
MAYO. You don’t? Well, maybe a woman’s eyes is sharper in such things, but—they’re always together. And if she don’t love him now, she’ll likely come around to it in time. (As MRS. MAYO shakes her head) You seem mighty fixed in your opinion, Katey. How d’you know?
MRS. MAYO. It’s just—what I feel.
MAYO. (a light breaking over him) You don’t mean to say—(MRS. MAYO nods. MAYO chuckles scornfully) Shucks! I’m losin’ my respect for your eyesight, Katey. Why, Robert ain’t got no time for Ruth, ’cept as a friend!
MRS. MAYO. (warningly) Sss-h-h! (The door from the yard opens, and ROBERT enters. He is smiling happily, and humming a song to himself, but as he comes into the room an undercurrent of nervous uneasiness manifests itself in his bearing).
MAYO. So here you be at last! (ROBERT comes forward and sits on ANDY’S chair. MAYO smiles slyly at his wife) What have you been doin’ all this time—countin’ the stars to see if they all come out right and proper?
ROBERT. There’s only one I’ll ever look for any more, Pa.