"You're s'rp--Why, what do you reckon I am? I've a good notion to take and--Say, what do you mean by kissing me?"

     He looked kind of humble, and says:

     "I didn't mean nothing, m'am. I didn't mean no harm. I--I--thought you'd like it."

     "Why, you born fool!" She took up the spinning stick, and it looked like it was all she could do to keep from giving him a crack with it. "What made you think I'd like it?"

     "Well, I don't know. Only, they--they--told me you would."

     "THEY told you I would. Whoever told you's ANOTHER lunatic. I never heard the beat of it. Who's THEY?"

     "Why, everybody. They all said so, m'am."

     It was all she could do to hold in; and her eyes snapped, and her fingers worked like she wanted to scratch him; and she says:

     "Who's 'everybody'? Out with their names, or ther'll be an idiot short."

     He got up and looked distressed, and fumbled his hat, and says: