"Ain't she always said she didn't want to be disturbed when she was readin'?" She indicated Grandmother by an inclination of her frowsy head.
"I don't believe any of us like to be interrupted when we're reading," Rosemary replied, tactfully. She disliked to "take sides," and always avoided it whenever possible.
"There," exclaimed Matilda, triumphantly.
"And the other time?" pursued Grandmother. Her eyes glittered and her cheeks burned with dull, smouldering fires.
"You was asleep."
"I could have been woke up, couldn't I?"
"You could have been," Matilda replied, after a moment's thought, "but when you've been woke up I ain't never liked to be the one what did it."
"If it's anything important," Grandmother observed, as she began to eat, "I'm willin' to be interrupted when I'm readin', or to be woke up when I'm asleep, and if that woman ever goes by the house again, I want to be told of it, and I want you both to understand it, right here and now."
Have You Seen Her?
"What woman?" queried Rosemary. She had been busy in the kitchen and had not grasped the subject of the conversation, though the rumbling of it had reached her from afar.
"Marshs' company," said both voices at once.
"Oh!" Rosemary steadied herself for a moment against the back of her chair and then sat down.
"Have you seen her?" asked Grandmother.
"Yes." Rosemary's answer was scarcely more than a whisper. In her wretchedness, she told the truth, being unable to think sufficiently to lie.
"When?" asked Aunt Matilda.
"Where?" demanded Grandmother.
"Yesterday, when I was out for a walk." It was not necessary to go back of yesterday.
"Where was she?" insisted Grandmother.
"Up on the hill. I didn't know she was there when I went up. She was at the top, resting."
"Did she speak to you?" asked Aunt Matilda.
"Yes." Rosemary's voice was very low and had in it all the weariness of the world.
"What did she say?" inquired Grandmother, with the air of the attorney for the defence. The spectacles were resting upon the wart now, and she peered over them disconcertingly.
What Does She Look Like?
"I asked you what she said," Grandmother repeated distinctly, after a pause.
"She said: 'How do you do, Miss Starr?'"
"How'd she know who you were?"