To hear him you would think sixteen hundred and fifty acres of the cream of this county could be tied in a bandanna and carried on a walking stick, he is so casual about it.

And those men fly around like buttons on a barn door to wait on him and it's 'Mister Bates this' and 'Mister Bates that,' until it turns my stomach.

Vanity! He rolls in it! He eats it! He risks losing our land for us that some of us have slaved over for twenty years, to feed that especial vein of his vanity.

Where should we be if he let anything happen to those deeds ?" "How refreshing!" cried Kate.

"I love to hear you grouching! I hear nothing else from the women of the Bates family, but I didn't even know the men had a grouch.