I rested and slept until noon, when I went upstairs for dinner.

Myra had got over her scare, and was about back to normal. She looked at me and said she could see I’d had a very busy morning, and she hoped I wasn’t wearing myself out.

“Well, I’m trying not to,” I said. “A fella like me, with the whole county depending on him for law and order, has got to watch out for his health. Which sort of reminds me. About me takin’ Rose Hauck home tonight—”

“You’re going to do it!” Myra snapped. “You’re going to, so just don’t try to get out of it!”

“But suppose Tom’s there? Suppose he’s mad about me bringin’ his wife home, an’—an’—”

I squirmed, letting my eyes fall, but I could still see Myra glaring at me. At last she spoke, her voice shaky with hate and disgust.

“You—you thing, you! You miserable excuse for a man! I’ll tell you this, Nick Corey! If Tom is there and you let him hurt Rose, I’ll make you the sorriest man in the county!”

“Now, my goodness,” I said. “My goodness gracious! You don’t need to talk that way. I wouldn’t stand by an’ watch Rose get hurt.”

“Well, you’d better not! That’s all I’ve got to say! You’d just better not!”

I started eating, with Myra shooting me a suspicious look now and then. After a while, I looked up and said I’d just thought of something else about Rose. Suppose Tom came home, after I left and wouldn’t be around to protect her.

“He’s bound to be pretty bad off,” I said. “Stayin’ away so long, he’ll probably be twice as drunk and mean as he usually is. Makes me plumb shiver to think what he might do to Rose.”

“Well . . .” Myra hesitated, studying over what I’d said and not finding anything to fault me for. “Well, I don’t suppose it would look right for you to stay all night at the house. But—”

“Naw, I couldn’t do that! I sure couldn’t do that,” I said. “Anyways, we don’t know for sure when Tom’s comin’ home. Might be gone, two, three days. All we know is he’s gonna be plenty hard to get along with when he does get back.”

Myra fumed and frowned, and said I should have done something about Tom long ago, and Rose wouldn’t be in this position now. I said she was probably right, and it was just too bad we couldn’t think of some way to give Rose some protection.

“Let’s see,” I said. “I wonder maybe if we could get her a watchdog, or—”

“You fool! Tom would kill it in a minute! He’s killed every dog they ever had!”

“Mmm-hmm,” I said. “God-dang if I didn’t forget about that. Well, let’s see, now. I’d know of just the thing if Rose was a different kind of person. More nervy, you know, instead of so meek and mild. But that’s the way she is, so it just wouldn’t do no good.”