Jus tolable, he said, with his bird-like nod
and wink, taking inboth men good-naturedly. You Goddamned black scoundrel,
yelled the master, turning withviolent relief upon the driver. Eliza was better
tuned to cosmic vibrations. I havent seen it yet, papa, Helen answered. He was
left behind, but the world lurked fullof unseen shadows for a lonely
man.
Would Brother Will, orBrother Jim give you
one?
He went upthe stairs, sobbing laboriously. The
two men seized him; theburly jeweller took the poker from his hand with quiet
strength. Hissister lay quietly extended on her back.
He cut his head on the bed-rail, mama, said
Steve descending. Good-by, good-by, cried Eliza, waving Eugenes small hand at
thelong figure on the platform.
She knew this but she could not understand his
feeling.
Soon, he thought, as the heavy food fragrance
floated in to him,I shall be in there with them.
If things go well we maysettle down out
there.
He would continue to roar at them from below
as if they werewakefully attentive above.
I think he meant it that time, she
whispered.
Helen had already been busy in the kitchen for
some time: sheappeared now with boiling soup.
Thatlittle girl knows her daddy in and
out.
She was seventeen and in her last year at high
school. And he would movedestructively toward it.
He wet his big thumb quickly on
histongue.
He turned and raced back toward thehouse at
the full stride of his legs.
Comically, hecould not endure feeling, in the
morning, that he was the only oneawake and about.
He had more sense than the nigger, said Gant,
wetting his thumb. This looks worse than it is, observed Dr. Would any of them
give a starvingbeggar a crust of bread? Once, with acrony, Gus Moody, son of a
foundry-man, he had gone off to see theworld. Every one has a good word for
Little Stevie except his own people.
And he would movedestructively toward
it.
Would Brother Will, orBrother Jim give you
one? Theyll thinkyoure mighty big to be under twelve, she went on, addressing
thegirl directly.
Ill kill hernow, and put an end to my
misery.
Duncan shut the door against the gaping line
of neighbors beyondthe gate.
Gant, fathoms deep in slumber, lay on the
smoothleather sofa against the wall.
Eugene was three; they bought him
alphabetbooks, and animal pictures, with rhymed fables below. She had wrapped
him well in ablanket; now she put a pillow on a chair and placed his feet on
it.
The wholeneighborhood was a bit bewildered at
this latest turn.
Would any of them give a starvingbeggar a
crust of bread? Why dont you get rid of some of this junk? Thatlittle girl
knows her daddy in and out.