scornfully.] Shucks! I’m losin’ my respect for your eyesight, Katey. Why, Robert ain’t got no time for Ruth, ’cept as a friend!
Mrs. Mayo—[Warningly.] Sss-h-h! [The door from the yard opens, and Robert enters. He is smiling happily, and humming a song to himself, but as he comes into the room an undercurrent of nervous uneasiness manifests itself in his bearing.]
Mayo—So here you be at last! [Robert comes forward and sits on Andy’s chair. Mayo smiles slyly at his wife.] What have you been doin’ all this time—countin’ the stars to see if they all come out right and proper?
Robert—There’s only one I’ll ever look for any more, Pa.
Mayo—[Reproachfully.] You might’ve even not wasted time lookin’ for that one—your last night.
Mrs. Mayo—[As if she were speaking to a child.] You ought to have worn your coat a sharp night like this, Robbie.
Robert—I wasn’t cold. Ma. It’s beautiful and warm on the road.
Scott—[Disgustedly.] God A’mighty, Kate, you treat Robert as if he was one year old!
Robert—[With a smile.] I’m used to that. Uncle.
Scott—[With joking severity.] You’ll learn to forget all that baby coddlin’ nights down off the Horn when you’re haulin’ hell-bent on the braces with a green sea up to your neck, and the old hooker doin’
