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“What happened, son?” I said “Please, tell ” At first the boy just stared ata word Fanny came up behind us “It’s okay, Leroy This here’s Mr Corbett He’s all right to talk to”

At last the boy spoke “You knoho is Annie?” he said “The one cook for Miz Dickinson? She got a girl, Flossie, little older than me?”

I didn’t knoho he was talking about, but I nodded so he would continue

“Well, it was that Mr Young,” he said, “Mr Jasper Young”

I knew Jasper Young, ned the hardware and feed stores He was a quiet, grandfatherly man who exercised some influence behind the scenes in Eudora

“What does Jasper Young have to do with it?”

“I can’t say” The boy stared down at his dishes

“Why not?”

He shot a look at Miss Fanny “Lady present”

“A, co in this world you can’t say in front of me!”

He wiggled and resisted, but at last he turned his eyes away from Fanny and fixed them on me

“Mr Young want so with it So he… he force the love out of her”

What an incredible way to put it

He force the love out of her

The rest of the boy’s story came quickly