But what of it?
What are you drivin' at ?" "I was wondering if--if it could be that, for some reason, Mr.Atkins had a spite against Emily or her people.

Or if he had any reason to fear her." "Fear?
Fear Bos'n?
Oh, my, that's funny! You've been readin' novels, I'm 'fraid, teacher, 'though I didn't suspect it of you." He laughed heartily.

Miss Dawes smiled, too, but she still persisted.
"Well," she said, "I don't know.

Perhaps it is because I'm a woman, and politics don't mean as much to me as to you men, but to me political reasons don't seem strong enough to account for such actions as those of Mr.Atkins.

Emily's mother was a Thayer, wasn't she?
and the Thayers once lived in Orham.