Oren fairly gritted his teeth, and before Lateza Alzina could speak, he busted out—
"By Vum! I've mourned all I'm a-goin' to! I've staid penned up in the house all I'm a-goin' to!
"I've quit it, by Vum! First my stepfather passed away. I never liked him—he always imposed on me; but we all went into deep mournin', staid out of society—jest shet ourselves up in a black jail for years.
"Then my mother-in-law left me—then three years more of solid black and solid stayin' to home.
"Then, at the end of the third year, we kinder quit off and begun to creep out a little and kinder lighten ourselves up a little; but then my wife's brother that she never see died way out to California and left a big property, but not a cent to us.
"But the rest of the family wanted to mourn, so my wife had to foller on and mourn too.
"And there it wuz agin, another time of gloom—another time of stayin' to home.
"Time after time, jest as we got out a little, we had to plunge back into gloom agin.
"But now we're out of it, and by Heavens and earth we're a-goin' to stay out! There hain't a-goin' to be any more mournin' done in this family—not if I know myself, there hain't."