'roun' town, Ca'line she'd swaller it in
medicine. But she was a good 'oman, Ca'line was. Heap o' deze heah
naggers is good 'omans! Co'se I don't say I _loves_ Pete, but I looks
ter come roun' ter 'im in time. Ef I didn't, I wouldn't have him."

"And how about his loving you?"

"Oh, Mis' Gladys, you is so searching!" She chuckled. "Co'se he _say_
he loves me already better'n he love Ca'line, but of co'se a widder man
he feels obleeged ter talk dat-a-way. An' ef he didn't have the manners
ter say it, I wouldn't have him, to save his life; but _ef he meant it,
I'd despise him_. After Ca'line lovin' de groun' he tread fur nine long
yeahs, he ain't got no right ter love _no_ 'oman better'n he love her
des 'caze he's a-projec'in' ter git married to 'er. But of co'se, Mis'
Gladys, I ca'culates ter outstrip Ca'line in co'se o' time. Ef I
couldn't do dat--an' she in 'er grave--_an' me a cook_--I wouldn't
count myse'f much. An' den, time I outstrips her an' git him over,
heart _an'_ soul, I'll know it by de signs."

"Why will you know it more than you know it now? He can but swear it to
you."

"Oh no, missy. When de rock bottom of a man's heart warms to a 'oman, he
eases off f'om swearin' 'bout it. Deze heah men wha' swear so much, dey
swear des as much ter convince deyselves as dey does ter ketch a 'oman's
ear. No, missy. Time I got him heart _an'_ soul, I looks for him to
commence to th'ow up Ca'line's ways ter me. Heap of 'em does dat des ter
ease dey own consciences an' pacify a dead 'oman's ghost. Dat's de way a
man nachelly do. But he won't faze me, so long as I holds de fort! An'
fur de chillen, co'se quick as I gits 'em broke in I'll see dat dey
won't miss Ca'line none. Dat little teether, I done tol' Pete ter fetch
her over ter me right away. Time I doctors her wid proper teas, an'
washes her in good warm pot-liquor, I'll make a fus'-class baby out'n
her."

Moriah had always been a good woman, and as she stood before me, laying
bare the scheme that, no matter what the conditions, had in it the
smallest selfish consideration, I felt my heart warm to her again, and I
could not but feel that the little whitewasher--a kindly, hard-pressed
family man of slight account--would do well to lay his brood upon her
ample bosom.

Of course _she_ was marrying _him_, and her acquisition of family would
inevitably become pensioners upon our bounty; but this is not a great
matter in a land where the so-called "cultivation" of the