Chapter 18 Summary

In town, Byron is told he will have to wait until the Grand Jury lets out before he can speak to the sheriff. He spends the time feeling sorry for himself for having to take care of another man's whore. He goes to see his landlady, undecided if he's moving out or not. However, she has already heard the talk about him living in a tent next to Lena's cabin, and has already rented his room to someone else. He tells her she has no right to say anything bad about Lena. She acknowledges that most of the gossip in town about her and Byron is being generated by women, but she tells him "that women don't mean anything when they talk. It's menfolks that take talking serious. It aint any woman that believes hard against you and her." (pg. 397) The landlady claims...