`` I'm a mess '', she said, and suddenly she was alarmed.

You see, he lied to us when he said he was leavin alone ''.

`` That was a terrible thing to do '', I said to Oso.

The War Department wrote Mr. Manuel a letter and said he was a hero.

`` But that was war '', I said.

What else he said was lost in the rattle of gunfire on all sides.

She said, and her tone had softened until it was almost friendly.

`` Oh, no '', he said, and he was without humor now.

Normally Hague wasted no words, but now he found himself unable to stop their flow although he knew Kodyke was aware of all he said.

When they reached their neighbor's house, Pamela said a few polite words to Grace and kissed Melissa lightly on the forehead, the impulse prompted by a stray thought -- of the type to which she was frequently subject these days -- that they might never see one another again.

An Ah coudn ansuh him an so Ah said ' Aw right, Ah gay-ess, an his fathuh didn uttuh one wohd an aftuh Huhmun was gone, the majuh laughed an tole me thet he an the bawh had been hevin an occasional drink t'gethuh f'ovuh a yeah, onleh an occasional one, but just the same it was behahn mah back, an Ah doan think thet's nahce at all, d'you ''??

She was still hugging the stained coat around her, so I said, `` Relax, let me take your things.

That was all she said.

This was the worst thing I could have said.

The girl took a couple of steps toward the man in shorts when Benson, in that barefoot courtliness Ramey could never decide was real, said, `` You don't want to go around there, Ma'am ''.

There was no doubt that Herr Schaffner meant every word of what he said.

But they never said anything, so he figured it was all right.

He said, lapsing into the profanity he often used when away from his parents and especially when he was with Charles.

While she was struggling to get her skirt down and get on her feet again, Jack ran over, offered her his hand and said, `` Gosh, I'm sorry, Miss Langford.

That should do it, he thought, because Miss Langford had said she was going to be strict about school work.

`` I only said I was hungry.

`` No, I don't think so '', said the big man, and it was the final clincher for Ernie.

`` I'd wind up full of bullet holes '', he said, and there was no question that he was talking about bullets fired by his coworkers.

He was silent a moment, thinking he could use a man this time of year, and if the girl could cook, it would give him more time in the meadows, but he knew nothing about the couple.

It was the only thing about her that was the least bit hard to remember.

The town was about what Wilson expected: one main street with its rows of false-fronted buildings, a water tower, a few warehouses, a single hotel ; ;

Sometimes I was aware of people moving about in the darkness.

Everything about the clerk was trivial.

If, when this was all over, she found the words to tell him about it, she wondered if he would ever understand.

There was a peculiar density about it, a thick substance that could be sensed but never identified, never actually perceived.

Somehow more terrible than the certainty that he was about to die was the knowledge that Lord would probably not suffer for it: the murder would go unpunished.

An inquest was held, and after a good deal of testimony about the anonymous notes, the county coroner estimated that the shooting had been done from a distance of 300 yards.

`` Fred was mighty crude about the way he took in cattle '' his own hired man, Andy Ross, mentioned later.

Against all expectation, Carmer was inside, clearly enjoying himself to the hilt and already so tipsy that it seemed unlikely he was bothering to note anything or anyone about him.

`` Gyp Carmer couldn't have known about Colcord's money unless he was told -- and who else would have told him ''??

The valley was only a few hundred yards wide with just about room enough for a properly performed hundred-and-eighty-degree turn.

He was about to make a gas check on his flight when Todman's voice broke in: `` Sweeneys!!

Mrs. Roebuck smilingly declined and began suddenly to go on about her son, who was `` onleh a little younguh than you bawhs ''.

The car was just about to us, its driver's fat, solemn face intent on the road ahead, on business, on a family in Sante Fe -- on anything but an old pick-up truck in which two human beings desperately needed rescue.

`` No, I remembered reading about you in the papers and that you lived here, and when it happened all I could think of was '' -- This time she stopped the rush of words herself.

That was the new advertising angle -- something about a Lloyd's of London policy to insure the secrecy of the secret ingredient.

There was something about the contour of her face, her smile that was like New Orleans sunshine, the way she held her head, the way she walked -- there was scarcely anything she did which did not fascinate me.

Even as she was telling me about it I became aware of a give-away flush that suffused her neck and moved upwards to her cheeks, and subconsciously I realized that when she entered the store she did not switch on the lights.