Martha's unaccustomed severity startled Katherine out of her hysteria. She nodded acquiescence.
"Why did you tell me, firstoff, when you'd took the pocket?"
"Because I loathed myself so. I couldn't bear it alone."
"Why did you clap the name o' thief to yourself? Are you proud o' it?"
"It's the truth. I have to tell the truth!"
"Why have you?"
"Because it's right to."
"Then, on your own say-so, you ain't any o' those things you said. Don't you see you ain't? A thief don't hate what he does, so he's afraid to be alone with himself. A liar don't have to stick to the truth, does he? A coward won't stand up, an' face the music, 'cause it's right to—not so you'd notice it, he won't. All this hangin' on to your antsisters' shirt-tails an' apern-strings, for good, or for bad, makes me sick on my back. I'm tired seein' crooked sticks tryin' to pull glory down on themselves off'n what they call their Family-trees. Don't you fool yourself. It's every man for himself these days—thank God! It don't folla you're what your gran'pa is, any more'n your gran'ma. You got a mind o' your own, an' a conscience o' your own, an' if you did, in a way o' speakin', lose your grip on yourself, an' done what tempted you—to do it oncet, ain't to say you'll ever do it again. It's just the very reason why you won't ever do it again!"
Katherine shook her head. "That may be true. All I can say is, it doesn't seem true to me now. Anyway, I can't change my feeling about grandmother. I want never to see her again. She hates me and—I——"
"Now, easy! Go easy, Miss Katherine. What makes you think the ol' lady hates you?"