Mrs. Wilson Woodrow

“ Mrs. Thomas exhibited the obstinacy of the meek. "I'd like to know why not?" she cried defiantly. "I'd like to know what right you got to judge me, Miss Benson. You don't know the lonesomeness of bein' a widow."
"Do you mean to say that you are contemplating a second marriage, not two months after your husband's death?" asked Frances, aghast. ”

“ Thomas's soul problem, and I didn't help her solve it. I just got mad and quit."
"Such is life," murmured Mrs. Landvetter, with some vague attempt at consolation. "You can't neffer tell."
"Take it back, Landvetter," returned Mrs. Nitschkan practically, brushing a bit of adhering clay from her short skirt. "Take it back. Life ain't nothin' so cantankerous. ”

“ Well, I guess there's a good many men in the camp, includin' poor Sile Evans, that wishes there was more like her. You all think you're too smart to mind your own business and got to stick your fingers in everybody else's pie. ”

“ Evans hastily replied. "What we got to do is to work on this end of the line."
Frances, who had walked silently down the little path leading to the paling gate, now spoke. "I agree with Mrs. Evans," she spoke slowly. "I do not think it is worth while trying to do anything more with Mrs. Thomas. She is completely under that man's influence. As for him," she added grimly, "a good, strong man should deal with him."
"That is so," responded Mrs. Evans emphatically, "but I don't know one that's got any call to mix in, unless it's Dan Mayhew. He's her trustee, an' he might do something with her." ”

“ It seems to me they keep the path to your gate warm," cried Mrs. Nitschkan rollickingly.
A faint, pink flush crept up Mrs. Thomas's face. "Willie Barker says he's got too much respect for me to try an' be steady company until my term of mourning is up; but he says he don't think it's right to the living to mourn for the dead; an' as for Dan Mayhew, he comes to talk business."
"How much does he know of this here Hartshorn?" asked Mrs. Evans pointedly.
"He don't know nothin'," returned Mrs. Thomas reluctantly. ”

“ Her will, her executive ability, her skill, born of intuition and long practice in disentangling "soul problems," were powerless when opposed to the soft, immovable, wavering force which she now encountered. ”

“ Mrs. Evans looked at her with protecting pride and admiration. "That's all right, Miss Benson; but we got to get away from God to man this morning. Marthy Thomas has got a soul problem, and 'course she don't know what to do with it no more 'n a kitten. She sent Vi'let an' Clemency over with a note a while back, and I just loped on to find you."
She held out a crumpled bit of paper whereon was scrawled in painful characters:
Mis Evans, won't you get Missioner and come here. ”

“ You're a cold-blooded lot. Oh, I know the whole of you, 'ceptin' Missioner. I could read your pedigrees from the beginning. It couldn't be expected that you'd understand her. She ain't made of the same kind of clay that you are. She's trustin', that's what she is, trustin' and confidin'; but what's the use of trustin' in flint an' confidin' in ice?"
"My Gawd, Dan Mayhew! Air you a-jumpin' on us 'cause Marthy Thomas is a d. f.?" asked Mrs. Evans shrilly.
He wheeled on her savagely. "You ought to be scrunched 'twixt a man's thumb an' finger like you was a flea, which you are," contemptuously. ”

“ Evans.
"She's so lonesome, bein' a widow, an' she wanted somebody to love her," mimicked Mrs. Nitschkan in a small voice, imitating closely Mrs. Thomas' lisp and coy manner.
The three mountain women rocked back and forth on their boulders with bursts of laughter.
"Aw, for the Lord's sake! " exclaimed Mayhew disgustedly. "I wisht women had some sense. Missioner, can you tell me what this is all about?"
"It's just as these ladies say," remarked Frances coldly. She had small sympathy for the culprit and was actuated in her present course solely by a sense of duty. "Mrs. ”