Page:Scarlet Sister Mary (1928).pdf/312

 A large yellow cat crept in through the cat hole, a notch cut in one corner of the door. Mary chuckled. Tom had come home early to-night. The rain must have run the rats too deep in their holes for him to catch; or maybe he found courting no fun on such a wet night. Tom thought of nothing but pleasure: eating, sleeping, courting, keeping his fur smooth. He had not a trouble in the world, although his yellow kittens were scattered from one end of the plantation to the other. He was like all the other men. Children could come and children could go, but as Jong as his belly was full of victuals and he had a warm dry place to sleep, he was happy and satisfied. Women are different. Poor little Nan cried and could not sleep for grief because her child, a tall weanling, was gone from her.

Somebody stumbled up the steps and made a loud knock and called, "Si May-e, is you home? Do, fo Gawd's sake, open de door."

"Who dat?" she cried, almost startled out of her wits, for the voice was Unex's own. Spirits trick people on nights like this, she must be careful what she did.

"Who dat, I say?" She called out boldly, and the prompt answer came.

"Dis is me, Unex, Si May-e. Do le me in"