"Did she tell yuh all this?"
"She did. Poor little girl, she come to me one evenin', an' she was all wrought up. I seen somethin' was the matter, an' I knowed it would do her a heap o' good to get it off her chest, an' I got it out of her little by little. She was sobbin' like a young one before she was through, an' I was a-holdin' her in my arms, an' I was cryin' some myself. She made me promise not to let on to you, but I ain't a-goin' to set by an' see her hurt when a word or two from me can set things straight. It's the first time I ever broke my word, but I don't care. I aim to help her all I can."
"Say, did she tell yuh what Blakely done?"
"No. What did he do?"
"I dunno. She hates him worse'n poison now. He's done somethin', but she wouldn't tell me what."
"He's been botherin' her likely, the skunk! You'd ought to crawl his hump first chance yuh get."
"Maybe I will."
"Looky here. I ain't quite through. What did you'n her fight about?"
"Nothin', ma'am. Honest. I'm there in bed, an' all of a sudden she busts out cryin' an' says she loves me, an' then she goes into the kitchen an' pretty soon she goes out—an' she never does come back. Then in comes Mis' Mace an' she acts mighty unpleasant, an' Dorothy acts the same, an' I believe I'd ruther been at the hotel, considerin'."
"I s'pose yuh just lay there like a bump on a log after Kate told yuh she loved yuh."