"Don't be a fool," he mumbled, and the sound of his voice roused her.
"You remember what I told you," she said, as she looked at him quickly. "You told me lies, and I believed them; but if she does the same, I'll kill you before she gets you. It would hurt her more to kill you then, and I'll do it."
"Don't be a fool," he repeated.
"I'm not a fool; I was one, but I'm not now," she went on. "I'm going to tell your mother, and Bobby, and father, and—and her; and then, if you don't do what you promised——"
"What's the use of talking like that?" he interrupted, in a half-whining voice. "Don't I tell you I will as soon as ever I get this other business off? It's bound to come right in six months or so—Barber said so before he went away—and then I can buy my own station, because the old woman's bound to get shirty if I won't have the other girl—she's been on it already, don't I tell you? You just wait. It'll only be six months more."
"That'll be too late," the girl answered, with all the sullenness in her voice again and her mouth growing hard once more.
"No, it won't; and besides, Barber may have it fixed up before then. He said not more than six months, and that it was a sure pile for me if no one knew anything about it. You heard him that night by Slaughter's."
"I don't believe him," Nellie replied. "He's fooling you just as he is the others."
"Well, Bobby was pleased enough to go when he suggested it, anyhow," Dickson said.
"Yes; and if Bobby was here now——"