my enj'yin' any immorality if I was to stumble across it. What part
of Scripture, pa, is it that deals with sech doin's?"

"They crop up powerful thick in Kings, son, but I've found 'em when I
looked sharp in Leviticus."

"If you are goin' to talk free, men, you can go to yo' own homes to do
it," remarked Betsey, who was accustomed to appear at unexpected moments
in order to impress them with the necessity of earning their supper.
"This ain't no place for loose speakin'," she added, solemnly eyeing
young Adam, who, having a weak memory, was striving to fix the names of
Kings and Leviticus in his mind by repeating them slowly to himself.

"Axin' yo' pardon, Mrs. Bottom, we didn't know a lady was in hearin' or
we'd never have made so bold," said old Adam. "Stop workin' yo' lips,
son, an' hand Mrs. Bottom a cheer."

"What's all this talk anyway about Molly Merryweather an' Mr. Jonathan?"
she demanded. "Abel, have you heard anything about it?"

The men glanced at each other with uneasy eyes, while they worked
nervously at the shucking, for the question had been in the air from the
moment of Abel's entrance, though none of them had been bold enough
to speak it aloud. And now a woman, with characteristic feminine
recklessness, had uttered the thought which had been revolving in each
mind for ten minutes--yet nothing had happened!

Old Adam, pausing for the first time in his work, glanced with
ungrudging respect at the short, lumpy figure in the black calico dress.
Her face was still comely, and there was the mild mulishness in
her expression that is seen in the countenances of many amiable yet
obstinate persons.

"No, I haven't heard," replied Abel, and he added a moment later, "What
do they say?"

"Well, Mr. Halloween had it from a man in Applegate who had it from a
man in Petersburg who had it from a man in Richmond."

"Had what?"

"That Mr. Jonathan had been waitin' on her steady for some months, an'
'twas mo' likely than not to end in marriage. She's a good girl, is
Molly. I ain't got no use for a woman that don't stand up for her sex in
the face of men."

"True, true," admitted her hearers solemnly, one after another, for none
among them had ever dared to defy the source of so many benefactions.

"Thar're some that thinks morals ain't meant for any but women," she
pursued, "but I ain't one of 'em, as William Ming can testify, that
holds to that view. Viciousness is viciousness whether it be male or
female