"No, I'm not angry--at least I don't think I am--but I've taken your
advice and given you up."
"But, Abel---"
"I suppose you meant to take Mr. Mullen all the time that you were
making a fool of me. He's a better man for you, probably, than I am."
"Do you really think that?" she asked in a tone of surprise. "Would you
like to see me married to him?"
He hesitated an instant and then answered: "I honestly believe that it
is the best thing for you to do."
Instead of producing the effect he had foreseen his advice brought a
luminous moisture to her eyes.
"I suppose you think it would do me good to be preached to three times a
day?" she rejoined.
"Well, I believe it wouldn't hurt you, Molly," he responded with a
smile.
His attitude of renouncement drew her suddenly nearer.
"It wasn't about Mr. Mullen that I came to talk to you--there is
something else."
"Surely you aren't thinking of Jim Halloween?"
"No, no, it isn't a man. Why do you seem to think that the beginning
and middle and end of my existence is a man? There are times when I find
even a turkey more interesting."
"It is about a turkey, then, that you have come to see me?"
"Oh, no, it's a man, after all, but not a lover--he's Mr.
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