"THAT'S Minervy Jones. She is one type of her race. Mammy is another. Now we'll see what she'll buy. I'll venture to say that every penny she gets from Joshua's life-insurance will be spent upon clothes for herself and those children."
"And I started the idea," deplored Mrs. Harold.
"Oh, no, you did not. She would have thought of it as soon as she was over her screaming, only you stopped the screaming a little sooner, for which we ought to be grateful to you. She is only one of many more exactly like her."
"Do you mean to tell me that there are many as heedless and foolish as she is?" demanded Mrs. Harold.
"Dozens. Ask Harrison about some of them."
"Well, I never saw anything like her," cried Polly, indignantly. "I think she is perfectly heartless."
"Oh, no, she isn't. She simply can't hold more than one idea at a time. Just now it's the display she can make with her insurance money. They insure each other and everything insurable, and go half naked in order to do so. The system is perfectly dreadful, but no one can stop them. Probably every man and woman on the place knows exactly what she will receive and half a dozen will come forward with money to lend her, sure of being paid back by this insurance company. It all makes me positively sick, but there is no use trying to control them in that direction. I don't wonder Daddy Neil often says they were better off in the old days when a master looked after their well-being."
An hour later Minervy was driving into Annapolis, three of her boon companions going with her, the "widderless orphans" being left to get on as best they could. She spent the entire morning in town, returning about three o'clock with a wagonful of purchases. Poor Joshua's remains were being looked after by the Society and would later come to Severndale.
Mrs. Harold and the girls were sitting in the charming living-room when
Jerome came to ask if Miss Peggy would speak with Minervy a moment.
"Oh, DO bring her in here," begged Mrs. Harold.