George Quin loved one woman who lived in far off Vermont. She was his mother. He sent her dollars and bear skins more than twice a year. He had his portrait taken in his best clothes for her. He looked so like a missionary that the good old lady wept.
There was something good in George one sees. But he kissed Jenny behind Ned's old shack before he went away. It might look like a coincidence for Pete to come down to the Mill to work for George after getting the Grand Bounce by Ned, if it hadn't been for the kiss. Women are often deceitful.
"I'll tell Pete," said Jenny in the clutches of the Panther.
Hyas Puss-Puss laughed.
"You tell him, you sweet little devil, and I'll blow a hole through him with a gun!" said he.
If he played up, that is! Sometimes they don't, you know.
"You give me a kiss without a fight, and I'll give you a dollar," said the Panther. Jenny still kicked. But she didn't squeal. Mary was inside the shack and would have heard her, if she wanted help.
"Not for two dolla," said Jenny, hiding her mouth with the back of her hand, with her nails out claw fashion.
"Three then," said Hyas Puss-Puss. He was as strong as the very devil, said Jenny's mind inside, three times, four times, ever so many times stronger than Pete.
"Oh, no, not for three, nor four, nor five," said Jenny, laughing.