auctioneer's, "Going, going, gone!" while the flush deepened in Angy's
cheek. Again she fastened her gaze upon the indomitable red rose which
hung a pendant ear-ring on the right side of Abraham's head.

"Yew wouldn't 'a' had folks a-comin' here ter bid jest out o' charity,
would yew?" she demanded. "An' anyhow," in a more gentle tone,--the
gently positive tone which she had acquired through forty years of
living with Abraham,--"we hain't so bad off with one hunderd dollars an'
tew cents, an'--beholden ter nobody! It's tew cents more 'n yew need ter
git yew inter the Old Men's, an' them extry tew cents'll pervide fer me
jest bewtiful." Abraham stopped rocking to stare hard at his resourceful
wife, an involuntary twinkle of amusement in his blue eyes. With
increased firmness, she repeated, "Jest bewtiful!" whereupon Abe,
scenting self-sacrifice on his wife's part, sat up straight and snapped,
"Haow so, haow so, Mother?"

"It'll buy a postage-stamp, won't it?"--she was fairly aggressive
now,--"an' thar's a envelop what wa'n't put up ter auction in the
cupboard an' a paper-bag I kin iron out,--ketch me a-gwine ter the
neighbors an' a-beggin' fer writin'-paper--an' I'll jest set daown an'
write a line ter Mis' Halsey. Her house hain't a stun's throw from the
Old Men's; an' I'll offer ter come an' take keer o' them air young 'uns
o' her'n fer my board an' keep an'--ten cents a week. I was a-gwine ter
say a quarter, but I don't want ter impose on nobody. Seein' that they
hain't over well-ter-do, I would go fer nothin', but I got ter have
somethin' ter keep up appearances on, so yew won't have no call ter feel
ashamed of me when I come a-visitin' ter the hum." Involuntarily, as she
spoke, Angy lifted her knotted old hand and smoothed back the hair from
her brow; for through all the struggling years she had kept a certain,
not unpleasing, girlish pride in her personal appearance.