He was surprised when Allegheny responded: "Ma and me stand it all right, but it's an awful strain on Pa," said she.
"Indeed ?" The girl nodded.

"He's got _more_ nutty notions." Gray endeavored to learn the nature of Pa's recently acquired eccentricities, but Allie was flushing and paling as a result of her sudden excursion into the audible.

Eventually she trembled upon the verge of speech once more, then she took another desperate plunge.
"He says folks are going to laugh _at_ us or _with_ us, and--and rich people have got to _act rich_.

They got to be elegant." She laughed loudly, abruptly, and the explosive nature of the sound startled her as greatly as it did her hearer.

"He's going to get somebody to teach Buddy and me how to behave." "I think he's right," Gray said, quietly.
"Why, he's sent to Fort Worth for a piano, already, and for a lady to come out for a coupla days and show me how to play it!" There was another black hiatus in the conversation.