RANSOM, after a pause: "The cow was grazing, and had no more thought
of hooking Miss--"

MISS REED: "Oh, I didn't suppose he WOULD!--Go on, Nettie, go on!
The hero--SUCH a goose!"

RANSOM: "I drove her away with my camp-stool, and Miss--the young
lady--was as grateful as if I had rescued her from a menagerie of
wild animals. I walked home with her to the farm house, and the
trouble began at once." Pantomime of indignant protest and burlesque
menace on the part of Miss Reed. "There wasn't another well woman in
the house, except her friend Miss Spaulding, who was rather old and
rather plain." He takes another turn to the window.

MISS REED: "Oh!" She shuts the register, but instantly opens it
again. "Louder, Nettie."

MISS SPAULDING, in astonishment: "What?"

MISS REED: "Did I speak? I didn't know it. I" -

MISS SPAULDING, desisting from practice: "What is that strange,
hollow, rumbling, mumbling kind of noise?"

MISS REED, softly closing the register with her foot: "I don't hear
any strange, hollow, rumbling, mumbling kind of noise. Do you hear
it NOW?"

MISS SPAULDING: "No. It was the Brighton whistle, probably."