"Can you milk?"
The girl nodded. "And I suppose you know something about looking after
stock?" he continued.
The girl remembered that her father thought she didn't, but this was no
time for criticism, and she again nodded.
"Come with me," said the older man, rising. "I suppose," he added,
glancing at her ragged frock, "everything you have is in the wagon."
She nodded, adding with the same cold naivete, "It ain't much!"
They walked on, the girl following; at times straying furtively on
either side, as if meditating an escape in the woods,--which indeed
had once or twice been vaguely in her thoughts,--but chiefly to avoid
further questioning and not to hear what the men said to each other. For
they were evidently speaking of her, and she could not help hearing
the younger repeat her words, "Wot's agoin' to become o' me?" with
considerable amusement, and the addition: "She'll take care of herself,
you bet! I call that remark o' hers the richest thing out."
"And I call the state of things that provoked it--monstrous!" said the
elder man grimly.
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