"But it's your place, isn't it?"
"Yes, I s'pose so, when Tildy's not around."
"I have come to see Miss Rivers," the woman explained. "She's staying with you, is she not?"
"Yep, she's here all right, but jist now she's out pickin' berries with Tildy an' Jess. So ye want to see her, eh?"
"Yes, if it's not too much trouble."
"'Tain't no trouble fer me, though it might be fer Belle. Come in an' set down while I toot the horn."
Throwing open a door to the left, Abner ushered the visitor into the parlor.
"Set right down, an' make ye'rself at home," he told her.
The woman smiled to herself as Abner left her. Then she studied the room most critically, from the old-fashioned piano to the fresh flowers in the vase upon the center-table.
"Strange that the Attorney General's daughter should be visiting here," she mused. "What an ignorant and uncouth man that farmer is. His language was most profane when he was trying to open the door."