hoarsely.]

ANNA--[Angrily.] His bringing me up! Is that what he tells people!
I like his nerve! He let them cousins of my Old Woman's keep me on
their farm and work me to death like a dog.

MARTHY--Well, he's got queer notions on some things. I've heard
him say a farm was the best place for a kid.

ANNA--Sure. That's what he'd always answer back--and a lot of
crazy stuff about staying away from the sea--stuff I couldn't make
head or tail to. I thought he must be nutty.

MARTHY--He is on that one point. [Casually.] So yuh didn't fall
for life on the farm, huh?

ANNA--I should say not! The old man of the family, his wife, and
four sons--I had to slave for all of 'em. I was only a poor
relation, and they treated me worse than they dare treat a hired
girl. [After a moment's hesitation--somberly.] It was one of the
sons--the youngest--started me--when I was sixteen. After that, I
hated 'em so I'd killed 'em all if I'd stayed. So I run away--to
St. Paul.

MARTHY--[Who has been listening sympathetically.] I've heard Old
Chris talkin' about your bein' a nurse girl out there. Was that
all a bluff yuh put up when yuh wrote him?

ANNA--Not on your life, it wasn't. It was true for two years. I
didn't go wrong all at one jump. Being a nurse girl was yust what