He returned the salutation coldly, and with an uneasy feeling that he was about to be made the object of another outpouring of her wrath.

Her intention, however, was quite different.

"I don't want you to think I set that man on you; it was somebody else done it." The color came and went in her cheeks.
Keith bowed politely, but preserved silence.
"I was mad enough to do it, but I didn't, and them that says I done it lies." She flushed, but looked him straight in the face.
"Oh, that's all right," said Keith, civilly, starting to move on.
"I wish they would let me and my affairs alone," she began.' "They're always a-talkin' about me, and I never done 'em no harm.

First thing they know, I'll give 'em something to talk about." The suppressed fire was beginning to blaze again, and Keith looked somewhat anxiously down the street, wishing he were anywhere except in that particular company.

To relieve the tension, he said: "I did not mean to be rude to you the other day.