`` Do you mean that John Douglas has been coming to see you for twenty years ? '' `` He has . And he has never so much as mentioned marriage to me . And I do n't believe he ever will now . I 've never said a word to a mortal about it , but it seems to me I 've just got to talk it out with some one at last or go crazy . John Douglas begun to go with me twenty years ago , before mother died . Well , he kept coming and coming , and after a spell I begun making quilts and things ; but he never said anything about getting married , only just kept coming and coming . There was n't anything I could do . Mother died when we 'd been going together for eight years . I thought he maybe would speak out then , seeing as I was left alone in the world . He was real kind and feeling , and did everything he could for me , but he never said marry . And that 's the way it has been going on ever since . People blame ME for it . They say I wo n't marry him because his mother is so sickly and I do n't want the bother of waiting on her . Why , I 'd LOVE to wait on John 's mother ! But I let them think so . I 'd rather they 'd blame me than pity me ! It 's so dreadful humiliating that John wo n't ask me . And WHY wo n't he ? Seems to me if I only knew his reason I would n't mind it so much . ''
`` Perhaps his mother does n't want him XXXXX marry anybody , '' suggested Anne .
about because for if on out since that to with