bent an' bound not to see what I mean, so I might as well go home."
"I think my mind ain't givin' way yit, an' I believe that I do understand plain words; but I ain't a-bearin' you no grudge. You've spoke yore mind, an' it's all right."
"But I hope there ain't no hard feelin's, after all these years."
"Oh, 'Liphalet, it ain't a part of even my pore weak religion to bear hard feelin's towards no one, no matter how they treat me. I'm jest tryin' to bear my cross an' suffer fur the Lord's sake."
"But I hope I ain't a-givin' you no cross to bear. I ain't never doubted yore goodness or yore Christianity: I only thought that mebbe yore methods, yore methods—"
Miss Prime's lips were drawn into a line. She divided that line to say, "I know what the Scriptures say: 'If thy right hand offend thee'—"
"Hester, Hester!" he cried, stretching out his hands to her.
"Good-night, Brother Hodges. I must go in." She turned and left him standing at the gate with a hurt look in his face.
On going into the house, Miss Hester did not immediately 'tend to Fred, as she
