“She can't come. I know who the woman is. They tried to get her when Squire Payne's sister died last week. Aunt Sylvy told me about it. She was engaged 'way ahead.”
“Oh, Charlotte! I'm afraid you hadn't ought to go,” her mother said, half crying.
“I've got to go, mother,” Charlotte said, quietly. She opened the door.
“You come back here!” Cephas called after her in a great voice.
Charlotte turned around. “I am going, father,” said she.
“You ain't goin' a step.”
“Yes, I am.”
“Oh, Charlotte! I'll go over,” sobbed her mother.
“You haven't gone a step out-doors for a month with your own lame knee. I am the one to go, and I am going.”
“You ain't goin' a step.”