`` No , Mr. MacPherson , '' said Aunt Olivia firmly , `` that does n't cover the difficulty . I knew you would not understand . My ways are not your ways and I can not make them over . For -- you track mud in -- and -- and -- you do n't care whether things are tidy or not . '' Poor Aunt Olivia had to be Aunt Olivia ; if she were being burned at the stake I verily believe she would have dragged some grotesqueness into the tragedy of the moment . `` The devil ! '' said Mr. Malcolm MacPherson -- not profanely or angrily , but as in sheer bewilderment . Then he added , `` Nillie , you must be joking . It 's careless enough I am -- the west is n't a good place to learn finicky ways -- but you can teach me . You 're not going to throw me over because I track mud in ! '' `` I can not marry you , Mr. MacPherson , '' said Aunt Olivia again . `` You ca n't be meaning it ! '' he exclaimed , because he was beginning to understand that she did mean it , although it was impossible for his man mind to understand anything else about the puzzle . `` Nillie , it 's breaking my heart you are ! I 'll do anything -- go anywhere -- be anything you want -- only do n't be going back on me like this . '' `` I can not marry you , Mr. MacPherson , '' said Aunt Olivia for the fourth time . `` Nillie ! '' exclaimed Mr. Malcolm MacPherson . There was such real agony in his tone that Peggy and I were suddenly stricken with contrition . What were we doing ?
We had no right XXXXX be listening to this pitiful interview .
because for if in into like on that to whether