"You are married to that—that—" Nancy Ellen choked until she could not say what.
"It's TIME to stop, since I am married to him," said Kate, gravely.
"You rushed in and married him without giving Robert time to find out and tell you what everybody knows about him?" demanded Nancy Ellen.
"I married him for what I knew about him myself," said Kate. "We shall do very well."
"Do well!" cried Nancy. "Do well! You'll be hungry and in rags the rest of your life!"
"Don't, Nancy Ellen, don't!" plead Robert. "This is Kate's affair, wait until you hear what she has to say before you go further."
"I don't care what she has to say!" cried Nancy Ellen. "I'm saying my say right now. This is a disgrace to the whole Bates family. We may not be much, but there isn't a lazy, gambling, drunken loafer among us, and there won't be so far as I'm concerned."
She glared at Kate who gazed at her in wonder.
"You really married this lout?" she demanded.
"I told you I was married," said Kate, patiently, for she saw that Nancy Ellen was irresponsible with anger.