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in Tennessee. They tell me a Yankee'd as soon marry an unvarchuous woman as look at 'em."

"Ditmas was arguin' that bein' it was Abner hisse'f that done it . . ."

"Hell far, if a feller tries one out an' she shows up bad . . ." Here Mr. Fraley recalled that his companion had not lived up to the strict Tennessee code of honour; he stumbled in his speech, and finally muddled out, "Well—down here we do our damnedest. . . ."

"Uh-huh," mumbled Zed uncomfortably, then he remembered that he had to see a fellow and started off rather awkwardly through the tented street. He had not gone far when he heard Mr. Fraley behind him wheezing with a stifled laughter, and he thought in disgust, "Damn fools won't never quit laughin' at that."

Which was quite true.

This same hill feeling of what was honourable halted Abner Teeftallow on his way to the unsheltered platform which served as a railway station for the construction camp. The youth did not know whether he wanted to go to Irontown that afternoon or not. Everyone except Ditmas advised him against it. Nessie was in trouble. He would better stay away. No telling what might bob up. All his friends, except Ditmas, considered any other action mad.

As a matter of fact, all the gossip about the girl seemed to change her from the simple, affectionate creature he had known into a woman whom he could not quite trust. The scandal was like tinted glass, which gave the girl, viewed through it, a new and disturbing colour. But Abner's natural fondness and tenderness for Nessie kept breaking through this feeling, and for a moment he would remember her as gentle, trusting, with an affection for him as enduring as her life. At such moments he would take a few determined steps toward the platform where a half-dozen persons awaited the afternoon train.

Then he would grow undecided again and walk up and