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"Mr. Belshue!" he repeated, stupefied.

"Y-yes."

"Not—the infidel . . ."

She nodded again with a whitening face and explained unsteadily: "I—I thought I—could help him—maybe."

Abner's mind jumped from the point of religious faith completely.

"Why he—he's—old. . . ."

Nessie took a sharp breath, pressed her lips together, then apparently ceased breathing.

"Why, Nessie!" cried Abner, as much now out of concern for the girl as for his own pain, "you jest kain't go with a man like that! Tell him he kain't come no more—and a infidel!" he stared at her aghast, then suddenly the irony of it struck him and he cried in scorn, "You kain't go to a dance with me on account of bein' a church member, an' stayin' at home to keep comp'ny with a infidel!"

The girl made a piteous gesture and seemed on the verge of tears. "Oh, Abner, you don't understand, I—I kain't jest stop him like that. I—he's been comin' to see me for three seasons. . . ."

Three seasons! This length of time spread before Abner with a devastating inference. He had thought Belshue was interfering in his courtship; now he saw that his own suit was very recent and that he was intruding on Belshue. The teamster was steeped in the hill convention of respecting another man's courtship as religiously as his marital rights. No two hillmen ever went to see the same girl at the same time. Abner himself was at fault. He had trespassed on the jeweller's vested rights.

He stood breathing through his open mouth, moistened his lips with his tongue. "You ought to of told me the first day you saw me settin' on the porch waitin' for you—some kind of a hint—" The hopelessness of his plight filled him with despair. "Do you shore 'nuff like him, Nessie?" he cried piteously.

"I—I don't know whether I do or not," shivered the girl.