"I tell you I don't like cities. It's no place to raise kids."

At this James betrayed some irritation. "I'm of age, and Lorelei's
a grown woman. If we don't get out of Vale I'll still be a
brakeman on a soda-fountain when I'm your age."

"If you'd worked hard you'd have had an interest in the drug store
now."

"Rats!"

At this juncture Mrs. Knight, having finished the supper dishes
and set her bread to rise, entered the shoddy parlor. Jim turned
to her, shrugging his shoulders with an air of washing his hands
of a disagreeable subject. "Pa's weakened again," he explained.
"He won't go."

"Me, a clerk--at my age!" mumbled Peter.

"I've been trying to tell him that he'd get a half-Nelson on
Tammany inside of a year. He squeezed the sheriff's office till it
squealed, and if he can pinch a dollar out of this burg he can--"

"You shut up! I don't like your way of saying things," snarled Mr.
Knight.

His wife spoke for the first time, with brief conclusiveness.

"I wrote and thanked Senator Fogarty for his offer and told him
you'd accept."