`` I believe you -- when he HAS a heart , '' retorted Miss Cornelia . `` I suppose that 's why so many women kill themselves cooking -- just as poor Amelia Baxter did . She died last Christmas morning , and she said it was the first Christmas since she was married that she did n't have to cook a big , twenty-plate dinner . It must have been a real pleasant change for her . Well , she 's been dead a year , so you 'll soon hear of Horace Baxter taking notice . '' `` I heard he was taking notice already , '' said Captain Jim , winking at Gilbert . `` Was n't he up to your place one Sunday lately , with his funeral blacks on , and a boiled collar ? '' `` No , he was n't . And he need n't come neither . I could have had him long ago when he was fresh . I do n't want any second-hand goods , believe ME . As for Horace Baxter , he was in financial difficulties a year ago last summer , and he prayed to the Lord for help ; and when his wife died and he got her life insurance he said he believed it was the answer to his prayer . Was n't that like a man ? '' `` Have you really proof that he said that , Cornelia ? '' `` I have the Methodist minister 's word for it -- if you call THAT proof . Robert Baxter told me the same thing too , but I admit THAT is n't evidence . Robert Baxter is n't often known to tell the truth . '' `` Come , come , Cornelia , I think he generally tells the truth , but he changes his opinion so often it sometimes sounds as if he did n't . '' `` It sounds like it mighty often , believe ME . But trust one man to excuse another .
I have no use for Robert XXXXX .
Baxter Christmas Cornelia Gilbert Jim Methodist first morning summer year