older 'n Ann is when he was here last, but you was daffy about 'im the
same as your ma an' all the rest o' the women. In fact, you was wuss
than the balance."

"Me? I'm ashamed of you, Uncle John; I'm ashamed to hear you accuse me
of--of--why, I never heard of such a thing."

"No matter, I wasn't plumb blind," Webb went on. "You kept puttin'
fresh flowers in his room an' you eyed his plate like he was a pet cat
to see if he was bein' fed right. La me, I'm no fool! I know a
_little_ about females, an' I never saw a mountain woman yet that
wouldn't go stark crazy over a town man or a' unmarried preacher. I
reckon it must be the clothes the fellers wear or the prissy stuff
they chat about."

Dolly put her hand out toward the bell, but dropped it to the table.
"When is he coming?" she asked, her eyes holding a tense, eager stare.

"Thursday," was the answer, accompanied by a widening grin. "I
wouldn't give the children a holiday on the strength of it if I was
you. Part o' these mountain folks is men an' moonshiners, an' they
don't think any more about a feller that owns a bank in Atlanta 'an
they do of a mossback clod-hopper with the right sort o' heart in 'im.
Say, Mostyn ain't nothin' but human, an' if what _some_ say is so he
ain't the highest grade o' that. Over at Hilton's warehouse in
Ridgeville t'other day I heard some cotton-buyers talkin' about men
that had riz fast an' the underhanded tricks sech chaps use to
hoodwink simple folks, an' they said Dick Mostyn capped the stack.
Accordin' to them, he--"