"
"Huh!" said June scornfully, and he knew Uncle Billy in his guess
as to the trouble was far afield, and so he tried another tack.
"I've been over to the county seat and I saw lots of your kinfolks
over there." She showed no curiosity, no surprise, and still she
did not look up at him.
"I met your cousin, Loretta, over there and I carried her home
behind me on an old mule"--Hale paused, smiling at the
remembrance--and still she betrayed no interest.
"She's a mighty pretty girl, and whenever I'd hit that old---"
"She hain't!"--the words were so shrieked out that Hale was
bewildered, and then he guessed that the falling out between the
fathers was more serious than he had supposed.
"But she isn't as nice as you are," he added quickly, and the
girl's quivering mouth steadied, the tears stopped in her vexed
dark eyes and she lifted them to him at last.
"She ain't?"
"No, indeed, she ain't."
For a while they rode along again in silence. June no longer
avoided his eyes now, and the unspoken question in her own
presently came out:
"You won't let Uncle Rufe bother me no more, will ye?"
"No, indeed, I won't," said Hale heartily.
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