amines Rhoda quizzically._

You wouldn't make up bad as Matildy Jane yourself, Rho, but sufferin'
Job, he can't tell the difference between crow's feet and dimples!

MARTHA.

Don't you be so sure!

BEELER.

Hello! Dan'el come to judgment! Never seen an old maid yet that
couldn't squeeze a love story out of a flat-iron.

MARTHA.

I may be an old maid, and you may be an old wind-bag, but I've got eyes
in my head.

_To Rhoda._

Where did you meet up with him, anyway?

_Rhoda, plunged in thought, does not answer._

BEELER.

Wake up, Rhody! Marthy asked you where you met up with our new boarder.

RHODA.

On the road, coming home from the village.

BEELER.

What made you bring him here?

RHODA.

He wanted a quiet place to stay, and this was the best I knew.

MARTHA.

Guess it was!--A snap for him.

_She goes out by the hall door._

RHODA.

_Rises, takes the lamp off the mantel, and during the following
cleans and refills it._

BEELER.

_As he takes off his coat, and hangs it up._

Rhody, ain't this religious business rather a new thing with you? Up
there in St. Louis, didn't go in for it much up there, did you?

RHODA.

_Looks at him quickly._

Why do you ask that?

BEELER.

Oh, I gathered, from things I heard, that you cared more about dancin'
than about prayin', up there.

_She turns away._

That young fellow that was so sweet on you in St. Louis year before
last, he wa'n't much in the psalm-singin' line, was he?

RHODA.

_Startled and pale._

Who told you about him?

BEELER.

Oh, Mary's friends, the Higginses, used to write us about your affairs.
We thought it would be a hitch-up, sure as shootin'. Studyin' to be a
doctor, wasn't he?

RHODA.

Uncle, please never speak to me about him again!

BEELER.

All right, all right, my girl. I've been young myself, and I know youth
is touchy as a gumboil when it comes to love affairs. So it's all off,
is it?

RHODA.

Yes.

BEELER.

_Sits down to mend the harness._

If you're partial to the pill trade, we've got a brand new doctor in
town now. Took old Doctor Martin's place. He'll be up here to see Mary
in a day or two, and you can look him over.

RHODA.

What is his name?

BEELER.

_Tries in vain to recall it._

Blamed if I can remember. Only seen him once. But I tell you, he's
smart as tacks. Chuck full of Jamaica ginger. The very kind I'd have
swore you'd ta