"What'd he say?" Herbert asked eagerly.
"He di'n' say nothin'," Mrs. Silver replied eloquently. "He hollered."
"What did he holler?"
"He want know di'n' he never tell her thishere Dills can't smoke no mo' cigareets on his property, an' di'n' he tell her he was'n' goin' allow him on the place if he did? He say she got to go back on the po'che an' run thishere li'l Dills off home. He say he give her fair choice; she kin run him off, or else he go on out and chase him away hisse'f. He claim li'l Dills ain' got no biznuss roun' callin' nowhere 't all, 'cause he on'y make about eighteen dollars a week an' ain't wuth it. He say----"
She was confirmed in this report by an indignant interruption from Florence. "That's just what he did say, the old thing! I heard him, myself, and if you care to ask me, I'll be glad to inform you that I think grandpa's conduck was simply insulting!"
"'Deed it were!" said Mrs. Silver. "An' dess whut he claim hisse'f he mean it fer! But you tell me, please, how you hear whut you' grampaw say? He mighty noisy, but you nev' could a-hear him plumb to whur you live."
"I wasn't home," said Florence. "I was over here."
"Then you mus' 'a' made you'se'f mighty skimpish, 'cause I ain't seen you!"
"Nobody saw me. I wasn't in the house," said Florence, "I was out in front."
"Whurbouts 'out in front'?"
"Well, I was sitting on the ground, up against the latticework of the front porch."
"Whut fur?"
"Well, it was dark," said Florence. "I just kind of wanted to see what might be going on."
"An' you hear all whut you' grampaw take on about an' ev'ything?"
"I should say so! You could of heard him lots farther than where I was."
"Lan' o' misery!" Kitty Silver cried. "If you done hear him whur you was, thishere li'l Dills mus' a-hear him mighty plain?"
"He did. How could he help it? He heard every word, and pretty soon he came down off the porch and stood a minute; then he went on out the gate, and I don't know whether he went home or not, because it was too dark to see. But he didn't come back."
"Yo' right he didn'!" exclaimed Mrs. Silver. "I reckon he got fo'thought 'nough fer that, anyhow! I bet he ain't nev' goin' come back neither. You' grampaw say he goin' be fix fer him, if he do."