Out of my way, then, that I
may pass, too."
"Not much betwixt you and me, Aunt Rachel," he said with slouching
deprecation, using the old household title by which he had familiarly
known her. "I've nothin agin you--and I kin prove it by wot I'm yer
to say. And I ain't trucklin' to yer for myself, for ez far ez me and
your'n ez concerned," he continued, with a malevolent glance, "thar
ain't gold enough in Caleforny to mak the weddin' ring that could hitch
me and Cress together. I want to tell you that you're bein' played; that
you're bein' befooled and bamboozled and honey-fogled. Thet while
you're groanin' at class-meetin' and Hiram's quo'llin' with Dad, and
Joe Masters waitin' round to pick up any bone that's throwed him, that
sneakin', hypocritical Yankee school-master is draggin' your daughter to
h-ll with him on the sly."
"Quit that, Seth Davis," said Mrs. McKinstry sternly, "or be man enough
to tell it to a man. That's Hiram's business to know."
"And what if he knows it well enough and winks at it? What if he's
willin' enough to truckle to it, to curry favor with them sneakin'
Yanks?" said Seth malignantly.
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