de was not making it any
easier for her either.

"'So' whut?" snapped Aunt Sharley; then answered herself: "An' so de
wind blow frum dat quarter, do hit? De young gen'l'man ain't j'ined de
fambly yit an' already he's settin' hisse'f to run it. All right den. Go
on, chile--quit mumblin' up yore words an' please go on an' tell me whut
you got to say! But ef you's fixin' to bring up de subjec' of my lettin'
ary one of dese yere young flighty-haided, flibbertigibbeted, free-issue
nigger gals come to work on dis place, you mout ez well save yore breath
now an' yereafter, 'ca'se so long ez Ise able to drag one foot behine
t'other I p'intedly does aim to manage dis yere kitchen."

"It isn't that--exactly," blurted out Emmy Lou. "You see, Auntie," she
went on desperately, "we've decided, Harvey and I, that after our
marriage we'll live here. We couldn't leave Mildred alone, and until she
gets married this is going to be home for us all. And so we're
afraid--with one more coming into the household and everything--that the
added work is going to be too heavy for you to undertake. So we've
decided that--that perhaps it would be better all round if you--if
we--if you----"

"Go on, chile; say it, whutever it is."

"----that perhaps it would be better if you left here altogether and
went to live in that nice little house that papa left you in his will."

Perhaps they did not see the stricken look that came into the eyes of
the old negress or else she hid the look behind the fit of rage that
instantly possessed her. Perhaps they mistook the grey pallor that
overspread the old face, turning it to an ashen colour, for the hue of
temper.

"Do it all mean, den, dat after all dese yeahs you's tryin' to git shet
of me--tryin' to t'row me aside lak an' ole worn-out broom? Well, I
ain't gwine go!" Her voice soared shrilly to match the heights of her
tantrum.

"Your wages will go on just the same--Harvey insists on that as much as
we do," Emmy Lou essayed. "Don't you see, Auntie, that your life will be
easier? You will have your own little home and your own little garden.
You can come to see us--come every day if you want to. We'll come to see
you. Things between us will go on almost exactly the same as they do
now. You know how much we love you--Mildred and I. You know we are
trying to think of your comfort, don't you?"

"Of course you do, Aunt Sharley," Mildred put in. "It isn't as if you
were going clear out of our lives or we out