But Mrs.Culpepper had heard Jane Mason sing a duet in church with John Barclay, and the elder woman had heard in the big contralto voice of the girl something not meant for the preacher.

And Mrs.Culpepper heard John answer it, so she knew what he did not know, what Jane Mason did not know, and what only Molly Culpepper suspected, and Bob Hendricks scoffed at.
As for John, he said to Bob: "I know why you always want me to go over with you and Molly to get the Mason girl--by cracky, I'm the only fellow in town that will let you and Molly have the back seat coming home without a fuss! No, Robbie--you don't fool your Uncle John." And so when there was to be special music at the church, or when any other musical event was expected, John and Bob would get a two-seated buggy, and drive to Minneola and bring the soloist back with them.

And there would be dances and parties, and coming from Minneola and going back there would be much singing.

"The fox is on the hill, I hear him calling still," was a favourite, but "Come where the lilies bloom" rent the midnight air between the rival towns many times that winter and spring of '73.

And never once did John try to get the back seat.
But there came a time when Bob Hendricks told him that Molly told him that Jane had said that Molly and Bob were pigs--never to do any of the driving.