“Well, if you wish to think so. Then I won't.”
“But by and by—”
“No, not by and by. Never, Nat. Never.”
He drew his hand across his forehead.
“Never!” he repeated, more to himself than to her.
“Never. Yes, Nat.”
“Then, by the everlastin'! I'll do somethin'—”
“No, no, you won't. Nat Hammond, I know you. You're a great big, brave-hearted, sensible man. You won't be foolish. You'll do—yes, I think you'd better do just what your father asks you to do. Marry Grace, if she wants you and will have you. She'll make you a good wife; you'll learn to care for her, and I know she'll have the best husband that a girl could hope for. And you and I will be friends, just as we've always been, and—”
“Keziah, stop that! Stop it, do you hear! I don't want to listen to such stuff. I tell you I'm past soft soap, and I didn't think you'd give it to me.”
“Nat!”