“How long do you think four hundred dollars would keep us?” he demanded. “Besides, it’s invested for us—to bury us. You can’t touch that, Hannah. No, I want me regular wages. I like good victuals!”
“So do I. But what’s the use of good victuals if you’re half scared of your life all the time? I’ll never step inside that there house again!”
William shrugged his shoulders.
“Do as you’re a mind to, Hannah—you always have. And I’ll go on livin’ over to Jennie’s with you. But I’m still workin’ here in the daytime. I couldn’t let them chickens starve and the garden go to seed. And what would become of the cow?”
“You could sell her and turn the money over to Miss Mattie.”
William smiled sarcastically.
“And have her half kill me for doin’ it? Not me! Besides, it wouldn’t be fair to the poor old lady in the hospital. Dependin’ on me as she is. No, siree! Duty is duty, and I always say——”
“Shut up!” yelled Hannah in exasperation. And then, all of a sudden, she spied Mary Louise.
“Don’t you never get married, Miss Mary Louise,” she advised. “I never seen a man that wasn’t too stubborn to reason with. Did you find Elsie?”
Mary Louise shook her head.