"Sary Ann," said Mrs. Gray, as sharply as any one ever heard her speak, "that's a pretty way to talk about your sister, ain't it?"
"Well, Mrs. Jim Harkey said—"
"You never mind what Mrs. Jim Harkey said; she's a snoop and everybody knows it."
"But she wouldn't tell that, if it weren't so."
"Well, I tell you, I wouldn't pay no attention to what she said, and I wouldn't make such a fuss over an old cow-bell, anyway."
"But the cow-bell is only the starting point; she ain't been near the house since, and she says all kinds of mean, nasty things about us."
"All comes through Mrs. Jim, I suppose," said Mrs. Gray, with some sarcasm.
"No, it don't. She told Dade Walker that I got all the biggest flat-irons, when she knows I offered her the bureau. I did everything I could to make her feel satisfied."
"I know you did, and now you must just keep cool till I see Emmy myself."
When Mrs. Gray started out on her mission of pacification, she found it to be entirely out of her control. The Coolly was actively partisan. One party stood by the Harkeys, and another took Sarah's part, while the tertium quid said it was "all darn foolishness."