It was not the Flat Creek custom.

The men gossiped outside, while the women chatted within.
Whatever may have been the cause of the excitement, Ralph could not get at it.

When he entered a little knot of people they became embarrassed, the group dissolved, and its component parts joined other companies.
What had the current of conversation to do with him?
He overheard Pete Jones saying that the blamed old wooden leg was in it anyhow.

He'd been seen goin' home at two in the mornin'.

And he could name somebody else ef he choosed.