Jesus Maria had been brooding, with his head back against the wall. He observed, “It is worse than whipping to be laughed at. Old Tomas, the rag sucker, was laughed right into his grave. And afterwards the people were sorry they laughed. “And,” said Jesus Maria, “there is another kind of laughing, too. That story of Tall Bob is funny; but when you open your mouth to laugh, something like a hand squeezes your heart.
