Page:Scarlet Sister Mary (1928).pdf/306

 A heavy sigh fell from her bosom, and she shook her head mournfully from side to side. Mary was wrong. She could have a house full of children for other men, but she could not change the law of God. Whom God has joined together all the men and all the sin in the world can not part. She was July's wife, July was her husband just the same as the first day Reverend Duncan read out the Book over them and married them together.

"You must be forgot how July done me, Auntie; how July suffered me. I done well te live."

"Is July de first man ever suffered a 'oman?"

"No, Auntie, I don' mean dat."

Maum Hannah grunted. Before she left she wanted Mary to tell her one thing. What had she ever done to make God bless her with a husband that would not suffer her?

Mary shook her head. She had done nothing to win such a blessing. Maum Hannah sighed and said good night.

The dusk dropped deeper. The light was almost gone. The air in the house was hot, and thick with the smell of cooking food. The children crowded around the hearth, laughing, happy, greedy, their black faces glistening in the