And Jud pulled down his hat and slipped quietly out.
The mother never did understand from the child just what happened. When she came in the Bishop had her so much better that the little thing actually was playing with his ginger cake dolls, and had eaten one of them.
It was bed time that night before the child finally whispered it out: “Maw, did you ever see two men hug each other?”
“No—why?”
“Why, the Bishop he hugged Jud Carpenter so hard he fetched the bleed out of his nose!”
It was her first and last sight of a ginger-man. Two days later she was buried, and few save the old Bishop knew she had died; for Cottontown did not care.