"What's done is done. You can' change em. You may as well make de best o em."
Andrew stayed dumb as a clam.
"You must be forgot how you licked Doll on you weddin-night, enty, Cousin?"
"I didn't lick em so much. I was just lettin em know I was gwine to rule em. Dat was all."
"Den why don' you rule em, if you know how?"
"Times is changed, Si May-e. Womens is changed too. Nobody can' rule a 'oman by switchin em dese days. Dey hides is pure tough. A leather strap can' sweeten em now."
Andrew did not see that Mary covered up a smile under her hand, for he was making her a comfortable seat by turning upside down a broken wash-tub which was waiting to have a new band put around it.
He began bending a steel rod into a smooth strong link and Mary drew her skirts to one side for the sparks flew wildly about under the beating of the heavy hammer.
She liked to watch Andrew's big hands ruling the hot metal and molding it into a pattern. The rumbling boom of his deep voice was pleasant. His skin was as smooth and black as her own and in spite of his height and bulk he moved as easily as a cat. Suddenly his eyes lifted and looked straight at her.
