"Oh, he sorter had it in for father before he even married Orlean. He didn't come into the family like I did."
Mildred and her mother regarded each other as Glavis went on thoughtfully.
"Yes, Baptiste is a good fellow, and I have always rather liked him. But he has always had it in for father; has never treated him as I have.... If he would have, I'm sure we would not be the bone of this scandal."
"It seems that this enmity between your 'father' and Baptiste, begun way back in the southern part of this state, when Baptiste was a small boy...."
"I've heard something concerning that, but of course he oughtn't hold such things against a man when he has grown up."
"You seem to hold Baptiste in fault for everything, when it's common knowledge, from what I can hear, Glavis," argued Mildred's mother, "that the Elder went up there and just broke Orlean and Baptiste up; made her sign his name to a check for a big sum of money—and a whole lot of other things. How do you account for or explain that?"
"Well, Baptiste could have settled this without all that. If he'd come and seen me before starting this suit," Glavis was evasive, "I would have had him and Orlean meet and reason their differences out together."
"Why have you waited so long to take such action, Glavis? You had years almost to have gotten them together—to have been at least fair to Baptiste. As it is, you have treated—all of you—Baptiste like a dog, like a dog. And because he tried to settle an affair like it ought to have been settled, you just ground him—pride and all—right into the ditch."
Glavis winced under the fusillade with which the elder lady of the house bombarded him.