"I can set down without bein' asked," grunted the squatter, dropping into a chair. "Sure I knowed yer pa's flew the coop."
"What'd ye want?" Tess asked again after a moment.
"I've come to settle with ye for somethin'," said Letts.
"I ain't done nothin'," replied Tess.
Sandy threw out an angry hand.
"Ye have, too, ye have, too! Didn't I want ye for my woman, and didn't ye go an'—"
"I said ye couldn't have me," interrupted the girl. "Folks ain't havin' everythin' they want in this world, Sandy."
"Then ye turned me down in the church afore Waldstricker," went on Sandy. "Ye might've been glad to marry a decent man after what ye'd done. But ye ups and says, 'I won't!' An' I've come to ask the reason why."
Tess walked across the shanty kitchen and sat on the edge of the cot. Sandy followed her with his eyes, his face growing crimson as he gazed at her.
"I air here for two things," he continued. "To find out the name of that man Waldstricker asked ye 'bout—"