"There!" she said, "ain't that your'n? Vianna said 't was your
engagement ring."
Letty flushed scarlet, and snatched the ring tremblingly. She gave an
involuntary look at the barn, where David was whistling a merry stave.
"Oh, my!" she breathed. "Where'd you find it?"
"Well, that's the question!" returned Debby triumphantly, "Where'd ye
lose it?"
But Letty had no mind to tell. She slipped the ring on her finger, and
looked obstinate.
"Can't I get you somethin' to put in your bag?" she asked cannily.
Debby was diverted, though only for the moment.
"I should like a mite o' pork," she answered, lowering her voice and
giving a glance, in her turn, at the barn. "I s'pose ye don't want
_him_ to know of it?"
"I should like to be told why!" flamed Letty, in an indignation
disproportioned to its cause. Debby had unconsciously hit the raw. "Do
you s'pose I'd do anything David can't hear?"
"Law, I didn't know," said Debby, as if the matter were of very little
consequence. "Mis' Peleg Chase, she gi'n me a beef-bone, t'other day,
an' she says, 'Don't ye tell _him_!' An' Mis' Squire Hill gi'n me a
pail o' lard; but she hid it underneath the fence, an' made me come for
't after dark. I dunno how you're goin' to git along with men-folks, if
ye offer 'em the whip-hand.
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