ma." (Numa was her
deceased husband.) "De organ-player he gwine march us in chu'ch by de
same march he played fur Numa's fun'al, an' look like dat in itse'f is
enough ter show de world dat I ain't forgot Numa. An', tell de trufe,
Mis' Gladys, ef Numa was ter rise up f'om his grave, I'd sen' Pete
a-flyin' so fast you could sen' eggs to market on his coat tail.

"You see, de trouble is I done had my eye on Pete's chillen ever sence
dey mammy died, an' ef dey ever was a set o' onery, low-down, sassy,
no-'count little niggers dat need takin' in hand by a able-bodied
step-mammy, dey a-waitin' fur me right yonder in Pete's cabin. My hand
has des nachelly itched to take aholt o' dat crowd many a day--an' ever
sence I buried Numa of co'se I see de way was open. An' des as soon
as I felt like I could bring myse'f to it, I--well--Dey warn't no
use losin' time, an' so I _tol' you, missy, dat de kitchen need'
white-washin'_."

"And so you sent for him--and proposed to him, did you?"

"P'opose to who, Mis' Gladys? I'd see Pete in de sinkin' swamp 'fo' I'd
p'opose to him!"

"Then how did you manage it, pray?"

"G'way, Mis' Gladys! Any wide-awake widder 'oman dat kin get a widder
man whar he can't he'p but see her move round at her work for two days
hand-runnin', an' can't mesmerize him so's he'll ax her to marry
him--Um--hm! I'd ondertake ter do dat, even ef I warn't no cook; but wid
seasonin's an' flavors to he'p me--Law, chile! dey warn't no yearthly
'scape fur dem chillen!

"I would 'a' waited," she added, presently--"I would 'a' waited a
reas'nable time, 'cep'n dat Pete started gwine ter chu'ch, an' you know
yo'se'f, missy, when a well-favored widder man go ter seek consolation
f'om de pulpit, he's might' ap' ter find it in de congergation."

As I sat listening to her quiet exposition of her scheme, it seemed
monstrous.

"And so, Moriah," I spoke now with a ring of real severity in my
voice--"and so you are going to marry a man that you confess you don't
care for, just for the sake of getting control of his children? I
wouldn't have believed it of you."

"Well--partly, missy." She smiled a little now for the first time.
"Partly on dat account, an' partly on his'n. Pete's wife Ca'line, she
was a good 'oman, but she was mighty puny an' peevish; an' besides dat,
she was one o' deze heah naggers, an' Pete is allus had a purty hard
pull, an' I lay out ter give him a better chance. Eve'y bit o'
whitewashin' he'd git ter do