told Tom this thing had to stop or I would stop it. If thar's a
p'isonous snake or lizard in this country, suh, it's that
tow-headed huzzy of Sol Peterkin's; an' if thar's a sex on this
earth that I ain't go no patience with, it's the woman sex. A man
may slip an' slide a little because he was made that way, but
when it comes to a woman she's got to w'ar whalebones in her
clothes when I'm aroun'. Lord! Lord! What's the use of bein'
honest if you can't p'int yo' finger at them that ain't? Virtue
gits mighty little in the way of gewgaws in this world, an' I
reckon it's got to make things up in the way it feels when it
looks at them that's gone astray--"

"Molly Peterkin!" gasped Fletcher, striking the arm of his chair
a blow that almost shattered it. "Christopher Blake was bad
enough, and now it's Molly Peterkin! Out of the frying-pan right
spang into the fire. Oh, you did me a good turn in coming, Mrs.
Spade. I'll forgive you the news you brought, and I'll even
forgive you your blasted chatter. How long has this thing been
going on, do you know?"

"That I don't, suh, that I don't; though I've been pryin' an'
peekin' mighty close. All I know is, that every blessed evenin'
for the last two weeks I've seen 'em walkin' together in the lane
that leads to Sol's. This here ain't goin' to keep up one day
mo'; that's what I put my foot down on yestiddy. I'd stop it if I
didn't have nothin' agin that gal but the colour of her hair. I
don' know how 'tis, suh, but I've always had the feelin' that
thar's somethin' indecent about yaller hair, an' if I'd been born
with it I'd have stuck my head into a bowl of pitch befo' I'd
have gone flauntin' those corn-tassels in the eyes of every man I