“Do you deny you said he ought to be arrested, and that he could tell something about it if he wanted to?”
“Wa’al, s’posin’ I did say so?”
“You have no right to say so. It is a scandal, and you are liable to damages for it.”
“Not if it’s the truth!”
“Then you still maintain that he robbed your store? Be careful of what you say!”
“I don’t say he done it. What I did say, an’ I say it ag’in, is that a fellow that robbed one place will rob another.”
“How do you know he robbed one place?”
“Wasn’t he found guilty of robbing the doctor’s house?”
“No, and you know he was not. At the very worst there is only a suspicion against him, and a wicked and unjust suspicion it is.”
“Wa’al, I don’t say Dan robbed my store, but I’ve got my suspicions that he might know suthin’ of the gang that did.”