'Is your name Miss Mason?' I said. 'Is it?'
'W-What? What?'
'I asked Miss Mason a question,' I said. 'In case you ain't heard, Miss Mason is one of the most prominent and respected young women in Potts County, and when I ask her somethin' it's because I know she'll tell the truth. So maybe you'd better not go contradictin' what she says.'
Myra's mouth dropped open. She turned from red to white, and then back to red again. I knew she'd probably give me all-heck when she got me alone, but for the present she wasn't talkin' back. She knew she just hadn't better, what with an election coming up and Amy being so generally well-thought-of. She knew that someone like Amy could cause an awful lot of trouble, if they took a notion, and an election year was no time for trouble.
So Myra didn't give me any trouble, much as she felt like it, and Amy was kind of pleased by the way I'd acted, and said she was sorry if she'd said anything hurtful. 'I'm afraid I lost my temper for a moment,' she smiled, a little stiffly. 'If you'll excuse me, I'll run along home.'
'I'll walk you home myself,' I said. 'It's too late at night for a young lady to be out by herself.'
'Now, that's not at all necessary, Sheriff. I-'
I said it certainly was necessary; me and my wife, we wouldn't have it no other way. 'That's right, ain't it, Myra? You insist on me seem' Miss Mason home, don't you?'
Myra said yes, her teeth practically clenched together.
I nodded and winked to Rose and she winked back at me; and Amy and me left.
She lived right there in town, so I didn't get out the horse and buggy like I might have if her home had been a far piece off. Anyway, I wanted to talk to her and I didn't want her pulling away from me. And it's just about impossible for a woman to be standoffish when you're walking her home through the mud on a dark night.
She had to listen when I started telling her how Myra had hooked me. She said she just wasn't interested and it wasn't any of her business, and that sort of thing. But she listened anyway, because she couldn't get out of it. And after a couple of minutes she stopped interruptin' and began to cling closer to me, and I knew she believed what I was saying.
On the porch of the house, she flung her arms around me and I put mine around her, and we stood there in the darkness for a little while, just holding onto each other. Then, she sort of pushed me away, and I couldn't see her expression, but somehow I knew she was frowning.
'Nick,' she said. 'Nick, this is terrible!'
I said, 'Yeah, I guess I have kind of messed things up, all right. I guess I've been nine kinds of fool, lettin' Myra scare me into marryin' her and-'
'That's not what I'm talking about. That could be solved with money, and I have money. But- but-'
'Then, what's botherin' you?' I said. 'What's so terrible, honey?'
'I-I'm not sure.' She shook her head. 'I know
She buried her face against my chest. I held her tighter, stroking her head and whispering that everything was all right, that nothing could be so very terrible as long as we were together again.
'Now, it just couldn't, honey,' I said. 'You just tell me what it is, and I'll show you it don't really amount to nothin' at all.'
She clung to me a little tighter, still not saying anything. I said, well, to heck with it; maybe we could save it for another time, when I didn't have to be in kind of a rush like I was tonight.
'You remember how I used to go night-fishin'?' I said. 'Well, I was thinkin' maybe! might go tomorrow night, and it'd be kind of a natural mistake if I should wind up here instead of the river, because you ain't so awful far from it.'
Amy sniffled, then laughed.
'Oh, Nick! There's just no one like you!'
'Well, I should hope not,' I said. 'The world'd be in a heck of a mess if there was.'
I said I'd see her the next night, just as soon as it was good and dark. She shivered against me, and said that would be fine.
'But do you have to go now, darling?'
'Well, I guess I kind of should,' I said. 'Myra'll be wonderin' what happened, and I got to see Miz Hauck home yet tonight.'
Amy said, 'Oh, I see. I'd almost forgotten about Rose.'
'Yeah, I got to take her home,' I said, kind of grumbling about it. 'Myra has done promised her I would.'
'Poor Nick!' Amy patted my cheek. 'Everyone's always imposing on him.'
'Aw, I don't really mind,' I said. 'After all, someone's got to take care of poor Miz Hauck.'
'How true! And isn't it fortunate that she has someone so willing to take care of her! You know, Nick, poor ol' Mrs. Hauck seems to be bearing up remarkably well under her troubles. She looked positively blooming, like a woman in love, one might say.'
'Is that a fact?' I said. 'I can't say that I rightly noticed.'
'Come in for a while, Nick. I want to talk to you.'
'I guess we better let it wait until tomorrow night,' I said. 'It's kind of late, an'-'
'Now! Tonight, Nick.'
'But Rose-I mean, Miz Hauck-will be waiting. I-',
'Let her. I'm afraid it's not the only disappointment she's in for. Now, come in!'
She flung the door open and went in, and I went in after her. Her hand gripped mine in the darkness, and she led me back through the house to her bedroom. And it was a funny thing, her saying she wanted to talk to me, because she didn't do no talking at all.
Or hardly any.
Afterwards, she lay back and yawned and stretched; kind of fidgeting because I never could see good in the dark, and I was slow in getting my clothes on.
'Will you please hurry a little, darling? I feel all nice and relaxed and drowsy, and I want to get to bed.'
'Well, you sure ain't got far to get,' I said. 'What was it you was wantin' to talk to me about, anyways?'
'About your grammar, possibly. You're no ignoramus, Nick. Why do you talk like one?'
'Just habit, I guess. Kind of a rut I've got into. English and grammar, I reckon, they're like a lot of things. A fella don't use 'em-he don't see no real demand for 'em-and pretty soon he loses the knack. Wrong is right for him, an' vicey versa you might say.'
Amy's head shifted on the pillows, her eyes wide in her white face as she studied me.
'I think I know what you mean, Nick,' she said. 'In a way, I'm a victim of the same process.'
'Yeah?' I said, pulling on my boots. 'How you mean, Amy?'
'Or I'm beginning to be a victim,' she said. 'And, you know, darling, I rather like it.'
I stood up, tucking in my shirttails. 'Just what was you wantin' to say to me, Amy?'
'Nothing that can't wait until tomorrow night. In fact, I no longer think I'll have anything to say then.'
'But you said-'
'And I said some other things, too, darling. Possibly you weren't listening. Now, you run along now,
