"She was one o' the village girls--respectable folks, more 'n ordinary good lookin' an' high steppin', an' had had some schoolin'.

But the old man was prouder 'n a cock-turkey, an' thought nobody wa'n't quite good enough fer Billy P., an' all along kind o' reckoned that he'd marry some money an' git a new start.

But when he got married--on the quiet, you know, cause he knowed the old man would kick--wa'al, that killed the trick, an' the old man into the bargain.

It took the gumption all out of him, an' he didn't live a year.

Wa'al, sir, it was curious, but, 's I was told, putty much the hull village sided with the old man.