other."

"Hear the man! Land sakes! don't everybody in Trumet know everybody
else? What ARE you drivin' at?"

"Keziah, you're a single woman."

His companion let go of the chair, which she had been holding in place,
and stepped back.

"I'm a single woman?" she repeated sharply. "What do you mean by that?
Did--did anybody say I wasn't?"

"No, no! 'Course not. But you're a widow, so you BE single, you know,
and--"

"Well? Did you think I was twins? Get down off there this minute. You've
gone crazy. I thought so when I saw that beaver. Either that or you've
been drinkin'. Grace! What DOES make her so long gettin' that hammer?"

Finding the hammer did seem to take a long time. There was no sound from
the kitchen. Kyan, steadying himself with one hand on the pipe, waved
the other wildly.

"S-s-sh! s-sh-h!" he hissed. "Hush! be still! Don't get her in here.
Keziah, you're single and so am I. You ain't got nobody to take care of
you and I ain't, neither--that is, I don't want to be took care of--I
mean, I've been took care of too much."

Mrs. Coffin took another step in the direction of the kitchen.