"Why so much that-_is_-ing? Would _you_ select him?"

"Mary, maybe the stranger knows him better than this village does."

"Much _that_ would help Burgess!"

The husband seemed perplexed for an answer; the wife kept a steady eye
upon him, and waited. Finally Richards said, with the hesitancy of one
who is making a statement which is likely to encounter doubt,

"Mary, Burgess is not a bad man."

His wife was certainly surprised.

"Nonsense!" she exclaimed.

"He is not a bad man. I know. The whole of his unpopularity had its
foundation in that one thing--the thing that made so much noise."

"That 'one thing,' indeed! As if that 'one thing' wasn't enough, all by
itself."

"Plenty. Plenty. Only he wasn't guilty of it."

"How you talk! Not guilty of it! Everybody knows he _was_ guilty."

"Mary, I give you my word--he was innocent."

"I can't believe it and I don't. How do you know?"