صفحة 125 من 439

"Oh, well! You had reason a-plenty. And sometimes a woman cries

just like a man cusses. It don't mean anything. I once knew a

woman wet her handkerchief to a sop crying because her husband

forgot one mo'ning to kiss her good-by. She quit irrigating to

run into a burning house after a neighbor's kids."

"I accept your apology for my behavior if you'll promise I won't

do it again," she laughed. "But tell me more about Miss Fraser.

Does she live here?"

For a moment he was puzzled. "Miss Fraser! Oh! She gave up that

name several years ago. Mrs. Collins they call her. And say, you

ought to see her kiddies. You'd fall in love with them sure."

The girl covered her mistake promptly with a little laugh. It

would never do for him to know she had been yielding to incipient

jealousy. "Why can't I know them? I want to meet her too."