“Is it 'how many wives,' says the haythen! Wan wife, by the powers; and tin childer.”
“Haven't you about as large a family as you can take care of?”
“Begobs, I have.”
“Do you want to take in Jim Baker's Mormon wife and provide for her? Somebody has to. If you won't let him do it, perhaps you'll do it yourself.”
“No, bedad!”
“Well, then, you'd better go about your business and let him alone. I don't see that we have to meddle with these things. Do you?”
The crowd moved uneasily and laughed, good-naturedly owning to being plucked of its cause and arrested in the very act of returning evil for good.
“I tould you Ludlow was the foine man,” said the torch-bearer to his confederates.
“There's no harm in you boys,” pursued the fine man. “You're not making a war on women.”