talkin' too free."

"Seems like a feller that talks as much as you do would _have_ to
mention a fact once in a while. G'-by, Pliny."

It was two or three days later that Postmaster Pratt alluded again to
Martha and Jed Lewis.

"They're gittin' wuss and wuss," he said, with some gratification.
"Last night they was a rumpus you could 'a' heard forty mile. Ended up
by him threatenin' to leave her, and by her tellin' him that if he
didn't she'd lock him out of the house. Looks to me like that family
fracas was about ripe to bust."

"Signs all p'int that way, Will. Too bad, hain't it? There's a reason
f'r it, I calculate. Ever look f'r the reason, Will? Ever think about it
at all?"

"Hain't had no time. Post office keeps me thinkin' night and day."

"Well, I _have_. Figgered a heap."

"Any results, Scattergood?"

"Some--_some_."

"What be they?"

Scattergood's eyes twinkled in the darkness. "I got it all figgered
out," he said, "that them young folks needs a dose of soothin' syrup."