PAINTED ROCK
ously; "don' you speak disrespectful of my Paw. You and me has finished, Mr. Prentiss, not that we ever begun" (here she tossed her head) "as I knows of. You cayn't be insultin' to Paw and stay in with me"
"Oh, I ain't intendin' to insult him any," protested Billy in distress; "all I allowed wuz as he cayn't shoot any, and that he's gay and free with his tongue, as everyone knows."
But Amandy wouldn't listen.
"If you ain't civil to Paw, you cayn't get me to talk," she declared; "and I'll be thankful if, when we meets, you'll payss me by, Mr. Prentiss. I'm fair sick of desperation mixed with oncivility to my parents, for you never even so much as payss the time of day with my pore mother."
Billy exploded.
"Why, Amandy, Lord's sake, how kin I? when your Paw sits outside with his hair a-bristlin' and a gun ready to shoot if we kems within hayf a mile? It's fair rediklus to speak so."
But at that Amandy turned about and walked towards the house.
246
