They had moved together up the
steps of the porch, and he stood there looking at her, quelling the
up-rush of admiration and avid hunger in his eyes. Then she said
curtly, for in these days she was always on the defensive, and meant to
be doubly so with him whom she secretly feared, "Ye're in ther house
now. Ef ye wants ter mek a killin' with me, tek off yore hat. Don't
folks hev no manners whar ye comes from?"
Halloway shook his head, not forgetful that one playing a part must
remain in character.
"I don't tek off my hat ter no man," he replied, stressing the final
word ever so lightly.
"I'm a man when I wants ter be, an' when I wants manners I aims ter hev
'em," she declared, but her visitor stood, still covered, in her
presence, and after a moment she said curtly--yet rather breathlessly,
"Wait hyar," and turning, disappeared into the house.
Floods begin slowly with trickles, but they break suddenly with
torrents. A flood had seized Alexander at that moment. Perhaps she
did not herself pause to recognize or analyze her motive. She merely
acted on an impulse that had come with an onsweep of conscious and
subconscious tides.
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