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Of course, Clara could talk of nothing else at supper except the nasty little confrontation in the churchyard. She’d gone off with Elias afterward for a walk, despite the muddy streets, and came back full of information provided by her beau.
“Elias says that Mr. Rowe went out and bought this piece of land that the Wilcox brothers had been bargaining over for weeks,” she explained, although Danica already knew all about that particular tidbit. “Offered full price, which no one does. The news of it just came down late Saturday afternoon, when Mr. Royer — the man who sold the land to Mr. Rowe — came into town to put up at the hotel and buy a train ticket back east. He said he couldn’t wait to get out of this damned town.”
“Clara, a proper young lady does not say things such as ‘damned,’
