. Dave!--
DAVE. [_Hushing her._] Sh--
JOE. Well, I'll think it over and--
JIM. [_Positively._] No!
JOE. No?
JIM. _I_ can't fool with you, Joe; he gits the girl or we quit.
LIZBETH. An' the girl goes too.
JOE. What?
JIM. Yes, the girl goes too. [_Pause and smile._] It's your say, Joe.
[_Foot on chair._] Well, Joe, it's up to you.
JOE. [_Giving up._] Well, I can't help it.
JIM. [_Passing the approval to_ DAVE _and_ LIZBETH.] There's
your girl. And you've got a stiddy job! [DAVE _and_ LIZBETH _half
embrace._] What do you think of that? [_To_ JOE, _who is mechanically
looking at gumbo._] Thirty dollars per car.
JOE. [_Glad to change the subject._] Thirty, eh?
JIM. Every per car--and see here--Joe--
JOE. What?
JIM. [_Draws second paper from pocket._] I've fixed up a kind of a
resignation here.
JOE. Resignation?
JIM. Yes. I can't tend to this new business and do much work as
sheriff, so I'm goin' to resign the sheriff part of it.
JOE. You mustn' do it, Jim--why, you've been keepin' the district like
a prayer-meeting!
JIM. Well, somebody else kin sing the Doxology--you turn that into the
council fur me.
_Enter_ KATE _and_ MRS. VERNON.
MRS. VERNON. I've put my foot down, Kate,--you can't go.
KATE. I am going.
MRS. VERNON. Joe Vernon, it's time you took a hand a-managin' this
family.
JOE. What's the matter?
MRS. VERNON. I've told Kate she can't go out.
JOE. Well, ma,--Kate ain't a child.
MRS. VERNON. Your carelessness'll make her disgrace the whole family.
JOE. Hol' on, ma.
MRS. VERNON. I know what I'm talking about. I see that nigger give
Kate a letter.
JOE. Why, he don't know how to write.
MRS. VERNON. You don't suppose I think the nigger wrote it! It's from
someone else.
JOE. Who is it from, Kate?
KATE. I don't care to tell. I'm going out. [_Starts_.
MRS. VERNON. [_Interposes_.] No, Kate, you ain't.
JOE. Why, ma--if Kate wants to go walkin'--
MRS. VERNON. All right, she kin walk. But getting letters sneaked to
her, and going out to meet a man's another thing. [_Persuasively going
to her_.] Why don't you tell, Kate?
KATE. [_Down to end of table_.] No one has a right to my letters.
JOE. Of course not. No _right_, Kate, but your ma's naturally anxious,
and she's only tryin' for your good.
KATE. [_Ready to weep_.] I'm awfully tired of it.
JOE. But you kin tell me--you ain't ashamed of it, air you?
KATE. No, I'm not!
MRS. VERNON. It
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