"'So you think,' says Elbert, 'that you're just as strong as I am—to carry things along? Mind you, I don't say as clever. You're easily that. But put it at just strong.'
"She done the little nod again, nicer than the first time.
"'You talk like folks voted with their muscles,' says she. 'Well, I guess some men do, judging by the results.'
"He laughed, but he went on.
"'And you think,' he says, 'that you would be just as wonderful in public life as you would be in your home—your very own home?'
"Letty put the last stitch in her muslin cap and she set it on her head—all cloudy and rose-budded, and land, land, she was lovely when she looked up.
"'Surely,' she says from under the ruffle, with a little one-cornered smile.
"He laughed right into her eyes. 'I don't believe you think so,' he says, triumphant. And all of a sudden there come a-sticking up its head in his face the regular man look—I can't rightly name it, but every woman in the world knows it when she sees it—a kind of an I'm the one of us two but don't let's stop pretending it's you look.
"When she see it, what do you suppose Letty done? First she looked down. Then she blushed. Then she shrugged up one shoulder and laughed, sort of little and low and soft. And she kept still. She was about as much like the dignified woman that had just been talking to me about women's duty as a bow of blue ribbon is like my work apron. And as plain as the blue on the sky, I see that she liked the minute when she let Elbert beat her—liked it, with a sort of a glow and a quiver.