“I don’t reckon it’s helped much yet,” said Holly, “but maybe it will. It sure does hurt, though.”

“And may I ask what the words are?”

“One is ‘Fiddle.’ Does that sound very bad to you?”

“N-no, I think not. What does it signify, please?”

“Oh, you just say ‘Fiddle’ when—when something happens you don’t like.”

“I see; ‘Fiddle;’ yes, quite expressive. And the others?”

“‘Shucks’ is one of them.”

“Used, I fancy, in much the same sense as ‘Fiddle’?”

Holly nodded.

“Only—only not so much so,” she added.