"I reckon it ain't, 'specially sich a one as that of the Dimock family."
"But surely you should not blame Mr. Isaac Dimock for what his father did. He, at any rate, is above reproach, and you can't bring any unworthy charge against him."
"That's true," Abner assented. "It 'ud be no use bringin' any charge aginst Ikey so long as he's hand an' glove with the Government. It 'ud only be workin' fer nuthin'. Ye couldn't ketch him, not by a jugful."
"Why, what has the Government to do with Mr. Dimock?" the woman asked in apparent surprise.
"It has a great deal to do with him, an' almost any fool could tell ye that. The Government has made Ikey Dimock jist what he is, if ye want to know the plain truth."
"It has! In what way?"
"H'm," and Abner shifted significantly. "Hasn't the Government been feedin' him with pap fer years now? Supplyin' him with big contracts fer hardware, an' givin' him great rake-offs in all sorts of government work? That's the way Ikey Dimock made his money, an' he's nuthin' more'n a chip off the old block. They called it stealin' when his dad took the oats from Bill Armstrong's barn, but now they call it 'high finance,' or some sich name. But it's stealin' jist the same. I could tell ye a few things if I had a mind to."
The woman, however, could stand no more. She had risen to her feet, her face pale, and her eyes blazing with anger.
"Do you know who I am?" she witheringly asked.
"Don't ye know ye'rself? If ye don't, how de ye expect me to?"