“So? Who were they?”
“One of 'em was Cap'n Jed. He drove down just after you left. He come to see you about that land, I cal'late.”
“Oh, yes. I remember he told me he missed me this morning. So he came here?”
“Um-hm. Him and me had a little talk. He seemed to know consider'ble about your rumpus with Mr. Colton.”
“How did he know?”
“He wouldn't say, but I wouldn't wonder if he got a lot from Ase Peters. Ase and he are pretty thick; he's got a mortgage on Ase's house, you know. And Ase, bein' as he's doin' the carpenterin' over to Colton's, hears a lot from the servants, I s'pose likely. Leastways, if they don't tell all their bosses' affairs they're a new breed of hired help, that's all I've got to say. Cap'n Jed says Mr. Colton cal'lates you're a fool.”
“Yes. So I've heard. What did the Captain say to that?”
“Seemed to think 'twas a pretty good joke. He said he didn't care how big a fool you was so long's you was feeble-minded on the right side.”
So there it was again. My imagined importance in the eyes of the townspeople simmered down to about that. I was an imbecile, but they must pretend to believe me something else because I owned something they wanted. Well, I still owned it.
“Of course,” continued Dorinda, “I didn't tell him you was figgerin' not to sell the land at all. If I had, I s'pose he'd have thought—”