"But she provoked me," Gabe defended.
"What did she do?"
"She stole my money; that's what she did."
"You're a liar," his wife charged. "It wasn't your money, anyway. I merely took it back to where it belongs."
"Ye did?" Gabe snarled. "So that's where ye were, eh? Why didn't ye tell me that before?"
"I didn't have to, Gabe Grimsby. If you'd acted like a man when you came home, I might have told you. But, no, when you got here and found that I was away, instead of staying with the children you went off to the store. Then when you did come home and found that supper was not ready because I just got back, you began to act like a demon. If it hadn't been for Eben here, I don't know what would have happened to me."
"An' he hit ye fer that?" Eben asked in surprise.
"Yes, for that, and beca
