"Get out! What I mean is, she called me 'Ramsey' without any bother; it
seems funny I got stumped every time I started to say 'Dora.' Someway I
couldn't land it, and it certainly would 'a' sounded crazy to call her
'Miss Yocum' after sittin' in the same room with her every day from the
baby class clear on up through the end of high school. That _would_ 'a'
made me out an idiot!"

"What did you call her?" Fred asked.

"Just nothin' at all. I started to call her something or other a hundred
times, I guess, and then I'd balk. I'd get all ready, and kind of make a
sort of a sound, and then I'd have to quit."

"She may have thought you had a cold," said Fred, still keeping his back
turned.

"I expect maybe she did--though I don't know; most of the time she
didn't seem to notice me much, kind of."

"She didn't?"

"No. She was too upset, I guess, by what she was thinkin' about."

"But if it hadn't been for that," Fred suggested, "you mean she'd have
certainly paid more attention to who was sitting on the bench with her?"

"Get out! You know how it was. Everybody those few days thought we were
goin' to have war, and she was just sure of it, and it upset her. Of
course most people were a lot more upset by what those Dutchmen did