Miss Gibbie made the mincing steps of Mr. Thoroughgood and so
mimicked his thin, piping voice that all laughed, then she nodded at
Mrs. Moon--"I got the candy.

"But to go back to Mary. She has heard some of the things said about
her, and so have I. Mrs. Deford told her Yorkburg did not need to be
washed and ironed, and Lizzie Bettie Pryor wrote her a note informing
her Southern people had no sympathy with Northern ideas, and if she
wished to keep her old friends in Yorkburg she should be more careful
in making new acquaintances. Now this is what I want understood. She is
my friend. If any one wishes to ask questions about her, come to me.
For statements made against her I will go to them. She has no mother.
I have no child. As long as I am here and she is here, we are to be
reckoned with together. This is what I came here to say. You can repeat
it. I will see that Lizzie Pryor and her daughters hear it, and Mrs.
Deford and Puss Jenkins and Mr. Benny Brickhouse--"

The door opened noisily and again the maid-servant's head was thrust
in. "Mis' Tate," she said, excitedly, "somebody done phone from Mis'
Pryor's and say Mr. Pryor done gone and died. She say please
somebody come on down there quick, that Mis' Pryor is just carryin'
on awful."

The ladies sprang to their feet with shocked and frightened faces, but
it was Miss Gibbie who spoke.

"Poor William!" she said. "Poor William! Lizzie knew he could never eat
sausage, and she had it this morning for breakfast!"