"Yo' used t' saay yo' were."
"How silly of me. And I used to be afraid of Maggie."
"I've been afraaid of Maaggie afore now. She's got a roough side t' 'er toongue and she can use it. But she'll nat use it on yo'. Yo've naw call to be afraaid ef annybody. There isn't woon would hoort a lil thing like yo'."
"They say things about me. I know they do."
"And yo' dawn't keer what they saay, do yo'?"
"I don't care a rap. But I think it's cruel of them, all the same."
"But yo're happy enoof, aren't yo'—all the same?"
"I'm very happy. At least I would be if it wasn't for poor Papa. It wouldn't have happened if it hadn't been for what we did."
Wherever they started, whatever round they fetched, it was to this that they returned.
And always Jim met it with the same answer: