"Jane, sometimes I don't understand you. Your own kid wandering around in the desert and it doesn't bother you."
"I don't think it bothers you either. You're more worried about being inconvenienced—being late to work."
"Now listen here—!"
"Oh, Dan! Let's not fight. It makes me a little sick to fight now. Don't you realize that last night something wonderful happened? Something we don't understand but wonderful all the same. Biddy was healed—and here we are the next morning growling at each other like a cat and a dog." Jane ignored the fact that Dan was doing all the growling and added, "Besides, I'm sure she's all right. I—I feel it somehow."
"You feel it! You've gotten almighty sensitive—"
"Dan—please—" Jane stopped suddenly, caught by the sound of pounding feet—the rumble of the crowd. "Someone's coming."
They went out on the front porch and saw the townspeople swarming into the front yard. Cecil Bates was in the forefront with fat little Tom Schultz, the mayor of Sage Bend beside him.
Jane's hands were gripped tight together and her heart was a dead weight in her breast. "What's happened? What's the matter? Have you found Biddy?"
"No, we ain't, Mrs. Parker," Bates said, then turned his words on Dan. "This morning I saw her riding that burro out of town. And I saw something else. She wasn't crippled at all. Never has been. Now we want to know what kind of a shenanigan you're pulling, Dan Parker! Let's have it straight."
Jane said, "It's true—it's true that Biddy's leg has been healed but it was done yesterday by—"