"You might as well let me out here," the widow said. "I’ll walk back with Mrs. Boyd." The wagon was lumbering on its way when Ann turned her set face, down which drops of perspiration were rolling, towards her approaching friend. "You caught me hard at it." She tried to smile casually. "Do you know patching fence is the toughest work on a farm—harder ’n splitting rails, that men complain so much about." "It’s a man’s work, Ann, and a big, strong one’s, too. You ought never to tax your strength like that. You don’t mean to tell me you lifted that stack of rails to put in the new one." "Yes, but what’s that?" Ann smiled. "I shouldered a hundred-and-fifty-pound sack of salt the other day, and it was as hard as a block of stone. I’m used to anything. But I’m through now. Let’s walk on home and have a bite to eat." "You don’t seem to care much whether—" Mrs. Waycroft paused and started again. "You haven’t forgotten what I said I’d try to find out over there, have you, Ann?" "Me? Oh no, but I reckon I’m about pegged out with all I’ve done this morning. Don’t I look tired?" "You don’t looked tired—you look worried, Ann. I know you; you needn’t try to hide your feelings from me. We are both women. When you are suffering the most you beat about the bush more than any other time. That’s why this is going to be so hard for me." "It’s going to be _hard_ for you, then?" Ann’s impulsive voice sounded hollow; her face had suddenly grown pale. "I know what _that_ means. It means that Joe set his foot down against me and—" "I wish I could tell you all, every blessed word, Ann, but you’ve already had too much trouble in this life, and I feel like I was such a big, ignorant fool to get this thing up and make such a mess of it." Ann climbed over the fence and stood in the road beside her companion. Her face was twisted awry by some force bound up within her. She laid her big, toil-worn hand on Mrs. Waycroft’s shoulder. "Now, looky here," she said, harshly. "I’m going to hear every word and know everything that took place. You must not leave out one single item. I’ve got the right to know it all, and I will. Now, you start in." "I hardly know how, Ann," the other woman faltered. "I didn’t know folks in this world could have so little human pity or forgiveness." "You go ahead, do you hear me? You blaze away. I can stand under fire. I’m no kitten. Go ahead, I tell you." "Well, Ann, I met Joe and Nettie day before yesterday at bush-arbor meeting. Joe was there, and looked slouchier and more downhearted than he ever did in his life, and Nettie was there with the young man she is about to marry—a tall, serious-faced, parson-like young man, a Mr. Lawson. Well, after meeting, while he was off feeding his horse, I made a break and got the girl by herself. Well, Ann, from all I could gather, she—well, she didn’t look at it favorably."