“I tell you, Miss Friend, you are a regular detective.”
As a detective was the last thing Josie wanted to seem to be, she was almost sorry she had seen the eyeglasses, but at least she was able to detain Uncle Tom in conversation concerning Mr. Cheatham.
“You were saying you didn’t like that handsome man over there,” she suggested.
“Handsome! As handsome as ten-cent store silver! He’s a crook, I tell you—a veritable crook. How decent people receive him is more than I can see.”
“What does he do that is crooked?” asked Josie innocently.
“That’s just where his crookedness comes in,” exploded Uncle Tom. “Nobody can put their fingers on his crookedness. He always manages to get out before he gets in.”
“Is he married?”
“Widower with stepchildren, and now pretending he has to keep the children in luxury although they even tried to kill him. Some people in Louisville believe him, but not me. You can fool some of the people all of the time and all the people some of the time but Cheatham hasn’t ever fooled me. I know a crook when I see him and he is as crooked as a snake.”
At this moment Josie was carried off by Teddy to meet some more of the friends gathered under his father’s roof for Christmas dinner.
“Related to the Virginia Friends?” one old man asked. “Petersburg people?”