"I guess the doctor wan't sorry ye had to stop here alone," he remarked. "He's a-makin' the most of his time, naow, I expect. Nothin' like a little friendly rivalry for a bashful man."
"How long have you been back?" I asked, not caring for his personalities.
"Oh, I jest happened to meet 'em in the north lane as I come. I guess they wan't expectin' to see nobody there, by the way it looked. Miss Fielding ain't so crazy but what she knows what she's abaout sometimes, I tell ye!" At which he went off into an ebullition of silent laughter. This was disquieting enough information, for I could guess what he had seen, though I couldn't afford to encourage him. So I changed the subject.
"How long have you been down here with Miss Fielding!"
"Goin' on two year," he answered.
"I suppose the neighbors talk about her a good deal?"
"I reckon they do! But they don't get nothin' outen me. I sit an' look wise an' chew a straw an' let 'em talk. Lord, how they do try to pump me!"
"Doesn't she ever see any of them?"
"Oh, yes, sometimes, when she's O.K., but she don't encourage 'em callin' much. They think she's so high and mighty, though, that they don't bother her to any great extent."
He proceeded now of his own accord.