Pagina 230 di 416

"Heavens, no!" cried Elsa so convincingly that Mrs. Tanner was

satisfied once and for all.

"Wal, what's all the fuss, then?"

"Any girl would ruin her life that threw herself away on Nat

Burns. He's got a fine solid-gold case, but his works are very

poor indeed, Ma Tanner."

"Don't go talkin' educated or I can't follow ye. D'ye mean he's

all show an' nothin' in his mind or heart of Christian goodness?"

"Yes, I mean that, and I mean more besides. He doesn't stop by

being merely 'not good.' He is actively and busily downright

bad."

"They's several kinds of 'bad,' Elsa Mallaby."

"Well, I mean the kind that makes a girl break her engagement and

keep it broken, and that drives a man out of a decent village."

There was a long and pregnant pause while Ma Tanner got

everything straight in her mind.

"You don't mean that he has--" she inquired, her little mouth a

thin, hard line.