“Evvything had come to look so encouragin’, I never would bin thought ’bout nothin’ diffunt; an’ my ’tenshun was leadin’ me to hurry up an’ git hyuh to fix things for you quick as I could. But it mus’ bin de sperret o’ Gawd met me on de road, an’ tol’ me to go by de Morgan station....
“W’en de nex’ thing I knowed: Hyuh was Lethe, wid a bundle o’ clo’se un’ her arm; stannin’ in line at de railroad station, munks a mul’tude o’ wimmins, waitin’ to git on de train goin’ yonder to Lafoosh sugar-grindin’.... Wid Lizzie Cole right ’longside her, grinnin’ at me like a fatal devil straight out o’ Hell.”
“And what did you do?” asked Mr. Amos, laughing with keen amusement at the awkwardness of the situation and Felo’s naïve revealment of righteous disappointment.
“W’at you expec’ me to do, w’en de train was jus’ ’bout to pull out from de station?” He asked fretfully. “You ain’ think I’m goin’ jump on an’ go ’long wid her, is you?”
“And Lethe never told you anything about wanting to go to the grinding?” Mr. Amos inquired.
“What Lethe wan’ go to any grindin’ for, w’en she makin’ good money at Miss Tillie house? An’ got a nice place to live in, decen’ an’ high-minded? An’ got me to lend her ’sistance inny time she lookin’ for a willin’ han’?” ... Felo argued with growing resentment. “Lethe ain’ never had no grindin’ to study ’bout, till dat wil’ Hellian Lizzie come ’long an’ got her worked up ove’ it.... An’ for nothin’ mo’ den to spite me, an’ git me onsatafied; ’cause she knowed dat nex’ to my church, Lethe was de secon’ big injoyment to make me count on comin’ over to Gritny evvy Sunday.... But w’at I got to count on now? De way things done come to be mixed up, an’ Lethe done gone away?”
There was a note of loneliness in his voice, and his face assumed an expression of utter bereavement. Mr. Amos regarded him in silence, amused by his quaint philosophy, at the same time conscious of a feeling of genuine sympathy.
“To look at you now,” he said to him cheerfully, “anyone would think that Lethe was dead and buried, and you didn’t have a friend left in the world. Aren’t there some other worthwhile people in Gretna you can go to see?... There, take your glass, and have a drink to a new pleasure next Sunday.”