“Why, about everything. You know, once I asked you about her being happy, and—and you didn’t seem fav’rable. You said ‘Bah!’”
Carolyn May’s imitation of that explosive word as previously used by Mr. Parlow was absolutely funny; but the carpenter only looked at her sidewise, and his face remained grim.
“So I said ‘Bah,’ did I?” he grunted. “And what makes you think I might not say it now?”
“Why,” explained Carolyn May earnestly, “I hoped you’d come to see things like—like I do. You are lots pleasanter than you used to be, Mr. Parlow—indeed, you are. You are happier yourself.”
The old man made no reply for a minute, and Carolyn May had the patience to wait for her suggestion to “sink in.” Finally, he said:
“I dunno but you’re right, Car’lyn May. Not that it matters much, I guess, whether a body’s happy or not in this world,” he added grudgingly.
“Oh, yes, it does, Mr. Parlow! It matters a great deal, I am sure—to us and to other people. If we’re not happy inside of us, how can we be cheerful outside, and so make other people happy? And that is what I mean about Miss Amanda.”
“What about Mandy?”
“She isn’t happy,” sighed Carolyn May. “Not really. She’s just as good as good can be. She is always doing for folks, and helping. But she can’t be real happy.”
“Why not?” growled Mr. Parlow, his face turned away.