"And why not? What else is there out here for a woman like me?"
"That's a hard question. One thing she might find is herself, for instance."
She gave a startled laugh and asked:
"Herself?"
"The same, ma'am. I s'pose there are folks who live for money and what it'll bring 'em. Cities must be full of 'em, or there wouldn't be so many cities. Folks do work pretty hard to make money an' pile it up, but I've never seen any of 'em that got to be very successful in other ways. The more money they made the more they seemed to depend on makin' money to attract attention. They don't seem to think that it ain't what a man does that really counts so much as what he is. The same goes for a woman."
She sat back, brows drawn together.
"Are you trying to preach to me?" she asked sharply.
Beck laughed lightly, as though that obvious hurting of her pride delighted him.
"Not just, ma'am. Preachers hammer away at folks about sin and such. I hadn't thought about you as a sinner; I was just considerin' you and your job; and what you say brought you here.
"It's none of my business what you want to get out of life. You told me what you wanted and asked me if I didn't like it, and I don't. That's all.