“Why didn’t you tell me of this?” she demanded. “Oscar had no business to leave without first speaking to me.”
“Laws, Miss Kitty, yo’ warn’t in de house an’ we didn’t know when yo’ ’spected to be back,” Mandy explained. “Oscar had to catch the three o’clock train to get there to-night.”
“The three o’clock train,” Kitty repeated. “The three o’clock train this afternoon.”
“Yes, Miss Kitty.”
“But—” Kitty passed a bewildered hand across her forehead. “Oscar was here at five o’clock—here at this house.”
“Here?” Mandy’s eyes opened, showing the whites more clearly. “What yo’ talkin’ ’bout, Miss Kitty?”
“Oscar was here this afternoon at five o’clock,” Kitty stated, speaking more deliberately so as to make certain that Mandy understood what she said. “I overheard him talking to a woman just outside the library door.”
“Yo’ did!” Mandy’s uplifted voice as well as her expression registered complete astonishment. “Did yo’ see him?”
“No. I tell you I overheard him talking to a woman.” Kitty’s temper was gaining the upper hand, and she spoke with warmth. “I know Oscar’s voice, Mandy.”
“Yes, Miss Kitty,” but the old colored woman still looked unconvinced. “Dar’s a heap o’ niggers talks jes’ like Oscar. Is yo’ sure it warn’t dat worthless ’Rastus from nex’ do’?”