I could bite my
tongue off for sayin' what I did to her, and spilin' her visit, but it's
done now and I can't help it, and I've got to stay here and bear it."
"No, Jim, don't stay here. So long as she sees you around here she'll be
unhappy, and you will be equally miserable. Go away from here; find work
somewhere else."
"When?" he said, quietly.
"Now; right away; before she comes back at Christmas."
"No, I can't do it, and I won't. Not till she graduates and gits her
certificate. That'll be next June."
"What's that got to do with it?"
"Got a good deal to do with it. If I should leave now jes's winter's
comin' on I mightn't git another job, and she'd have to come home and
her eddication be sp'ilt."
"What would bring her home?" I asked in surprise.
"What would bring her home?" he repeated, with some irritation. "Why
they'd send her if the bills warn't paid--that's what Marm Marvin
couldn't help her, and Jed wouldn't give her a cent. Them school-bills,
you know, I've always paid out o' my wages--that's why Jed let her go.
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